Aliens: Intermission
by CrazyBirdMan59
Summary: Between the events of Aliens: Symbiosis and its sequel, Aliens: Insurrection, the Resistance finds itself a semi-peaceful intermission period to gather strength for the coming storm. M for violence, swearing, and probably lemons, seeing as you lot love them so much.
1. The Fight

**A/N: An important notice about this story: A friend of mine suggested I write an intermission story filled with little one-off shorts, something to keep the series alive until I get back to it properly. It also gives me a chance to do a time lapse kind of thing and add in scenes which wouldn't fit into Aliens: Insurrection without an annoying quantity of time skips. This will be updated randomly, as I come up with the stories, so expect long gaps and such. Because the main plot will take place in the next entry, these shorts will contain mostly character development, some plot, and a little action. Also, the order in which I release the stories might not be chronological, so expect a few time jumps.  
Without further ado, the introductory short:**

Silence. Blank stares. Neither daring to make a move or peel their eyes away from what lay beyond the doorway. Jake and Advena looked awkward, crammed into the small doorway side-by-side, unmoving and silhouetted by the light at their backs and the darkness laid out before them.

" _Well?_ " Advena demanded finally. Jake, still unable to tear his eyes away, either because of the sight that had his attention, or the desire not to make eye contact with his alien girlfriend, remained silent, mind reeling for a response. " _You don't like it?_ "

"Uh, well, I mean…"

" _You_ hate _it._ "

"Of course not, it's just… maybe we should have talked about this beforehand?"

" _I wanted it to be a surprise…_ "

"Well, you did a good job of that," Jake muttered under his breath, though he was well aware that Advena had heard the quiet remark anyway.

" _I worked really hard on this…_ "

"I know, and it's nice. It's good. It's great, okay? I like it – I love it. Great job, I'm uh, proud of you…"

" _Don't patronise me, Jacob._ " Oh boy, the full name. Advena never used his full first name without that grave, sullen or grim undertone to accompany it hand-in-hand to Jake's mind. The human ex-marine sighed, finally shifting his eyes so they were pointed at the floor.

"I mean, it's our bedroom, 'Vena. We need to sleep in there – _I_ need to sleep in there. And now it's all… sticky. And humid. And dark. And uh, a little odorous, to be brutally honest."

" _Don't you 'Vena me. As a matter of fact, you don't_ need _to sleep here, there's a perfectly good couch in the living room if you can't bear to sleep with a slimy alien._ "

"Oh come on, don't make this a race thing!" Jake whined.

" _It_ is _a race thing though! This is my culture! I did this because I love and trust you, I believed that you'd have the decency to respect it._ "

"Look, I can see you put a lot of work into this, and it looks very nice, alright? But humans aren't made to sleep in these conditions – it's detrimental to my health. Can you really blame me for being a little unenthused?"

" _Unenthused? Unenthused? No, unenthused is the word I'd use to describe how I feel during our sex! You're just being plain disparaging!_ " The Xenomorph angrily slammed the door shut behind her, cutting off Jake's view of their resin-coated bedroom and separating the duo from one another.

"Ouch," Jake grimaced quietly. "Can I at least have a blanket then?" Jake sighed again when he was met only with more silence. He gingerly shuffled away from their room and into the living room, where he would spend the night on their springy couch, huddling beneath his coat for warmth. After all, experience had taught him well to recognise when a woman wanted to be left alone.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Advena wasn't in the house when Jake woke up the next morning; she had sealed their bedroom shut with some resin on the door as her parting gift. Jake decided it would be his mission today to track her down and try to smooth things out. It felt… uncomfortable, being unable to feel her presence through the link, or the trickle of emotions which would always rub off on him. Every day of his life would have felt like this a mere few months ago, but now it felt completely unnatural, and waking up without Advena's warm body curled up against his side was unnerving. All the little things which he took for granted were suddenly blaringly obvious now that they were missing.

Jake decided his first order of business would be to call Tyler and Jeica, to see if 'Vena had shown up at either of their houses, but as his hand fell on an empty shelf. He patted the varnished wood for a few seconds, searching for the phone they kept there, but all he got for his troubles was a fine layer of dust on his hand. He stared up at the empty shelf for a few moments, before something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. He directed his gaze directly above him, and there, stuck to the ceiling by a thin strip of resin, was their phone. Jake screwed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and managed to keep his composure. It wasn't too far of a walk to his friends' houses anyway. Jake took a minute to shower and change into clean clothes before setting off.

The ex-marine trotted through the outer streets of the small city, which in the rural district he lived in, were merely trails of hard, bare dirt, and were mostly devoid of vehicles, as everything was within walking distance. The small community knew each other reasonably well, despite the short time that had passed since Jake and his rebellious company had arrived, and so he was offered a few waves or nods of greeting, which he absently returned. As he walked, the populace began thinning, and the houses grew more and more sparse, the pseudo-roads giving way to patches of scruffy grass, which eventually melted into luscious fields of green.

The grass swished gently beneath his boots, a soft breeze ruffling his hair and the few leafy trees which were dotted around at irregular intervals. As Jake crested a small hill, an ungainly metal oblong came into sight, surrounded by tall, skinny towers, fences and a couple of hefty machines. Beside the grey oblong was a wooden framing of some kind which hadn't been there last time Jake had visited. Looked like something was being built there. Regardless, Jake arrived at the oblong, which was in actual fact a large shuttle, outfitted with the facilities necessary for a long-term mobile command base. He knocked on the small airlock hatch and waited.

"Was anyone important supposed to visit today?" a whisper from inside demanded.

" _Uhh… nope. Nothing I can remember. Maybe Parker?_ "

"Parker?" the first voice hissed. He then cleared his throat and spoke up. "Go away! We're busy!"

"Tyler!" Jake snapped. "It's me." Footsteps, then a metallic _clunk_ and the door creaked open a few inches. A young man wearing a stained white lab coat and thick, rectangular goggles peered out through the gap suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"Have you seen Advena around?"

"Nope." And then the door clanged shut. Jake shook his head and stepped away, turning to head back into the city, when the door groaned open once more. "Wait, why? Is she okay?" _Typical Tyler_ , Jake thought as he turned back to face the scientist. Tyler didn't care much for Jake himself – probably because he was still a little sour over the attempted murder back on Reveles station, and the kidnapping – but he and Advena were rather close.

"Yeah, she's fine, physically at least. She got really mad at me last night though, and now she won't even talk to me." Tyler sighed dramatically, letting the door swing fully open so he could lean on its frame.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! I mean, it wasn't that big of a deal. She covered our bedroom in that resin stuff, and I just didn't think it was a good idea."

"Well, why not? That isn't easy to do, you know. And, it's an expression of her trust – she's making a nest for you both, a proper nest. It's her way of feeling safe and settled, rather than constantly on guard and on the run like we have been. It's her way of making this place her home."

"Has she already been here today and told you about it?" Jake asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. What he'd said hadn't sounded dissimilar to what Advena told him the previous night.

"Uh, hello? We've been over this; I haven't seen her today."

"Well, you sound just like her, prattling on about how hard it is to do and trust displays like that." Tyler raised an eyebrow and crossed his arm, a little taken aback by how Jake was acting. Jake hated that look – that was the look you gave a spoilt child who was throwing a temper tantrum.

"That's because Sal explained it to me when he did it to my bedroom, and I _felt_ how exhausted he was after that ordeal. Needless to say, I topped in bed that night."

"Okay, one, TMI man. And two, you can actually sleep like that? That stuff makes rooms more humid than a bloody rainforest! Isn't it really sticky and sweaty and gross in there?"

"Dude, it's called a dehumidifier." Jake blinked.

"What?" he croaked finally.

"A dehumidifier. We have one plugged into the back wall, near our bed. It sucks the excess moisture out of the air, keeps things nice and cosy."

"Oh… haha, didn't realise that was a thing…" Jake trailed off nervously as a quiet beeping filled the air. Tyler fished a PDA out of his pocket and silenced the disturbance, before swiping his hand across its screen a few times, studying the information displayed.

"That's because you're an idiot. Now, I wasn't kidding about being busy, so if we're done here…"

"Yeah," Jake confirmed, before pausing, remembering Advena's final remark to him. "But, uh… j-just out of curiosity, how's your sex life going? With Sal?" Jake asked tentatively. Tyler arched an eyebrow at him, glancing up from his PDA for a moment in order to give the ex-marine a confused stare, not quite sure what to make of such a question. So caught off-guard he was, he forgot to act snide and patronising.

"Umm… good, I guess? Thanks for asking?"

"Like, er, how does it compare? To human partners you've had?"

"Wait… are you… trying to discreetly compare dicks with my boyfriend? That would be hilarious if it wasn't sad, and a little creepy."

"I'm just curious, you know, eying up the competition to make sure Advena doesn't stray. Us guys are always worrying about that kinda stuff, right?" Jake half-heartedly gave Tyler a boyish nudge with his elbow, earning himself an unimpressed stare.

"Well, if you must know, Sal's really packing down there."

"Packing?" Jake gulped.

"Yeah, like, you ever heard the expression 'hung like a horse'? Xenos take that to a _whole_ new level. And the shape, the shape's important too. They have like, nubs and ridges and stuff. Twice as stimulating as they are interesting to look at."

"Uh-r-right. Cool. Thanks for the info… the intel… the valuable specs… ahem… I'm gonna go now. Later." Tyler cracked a grin, standing with his hands loosely on his hips as he watched Jake scramble away.

" _Nubs and ridges?_ " Sal inquired as he slunk out of the shadows of the doorway.

"I mean, it's got those little bumpy bits on the underside, so it's kinda true…"

" _Hung like a horse?_ " Sal reminded him.

"Buuuut mostly I was just fucking with him," Tyler admitted while flashing a proud grin to his snickering boyfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jeica sighed and slouched slightly as she ran her tired eyes over the low holo-table before her. Its shiny black surface was sliced into small squares by neon blue grid lines, each with a miniscule piece of text floating above it with coordinates and designations. Several planets and ship schematics were hovering high above the table's surface, each sharing the flickering blue hue and lined with walls of text and numbers. Resting her palms on the surface to better hold her weight, she glanced up at the other occupant of the dim room; Lieutenant Parker.

"So, what were you thinking?" he inquired, breaking the suffocating silence.

"If we pulled all the troops out of Gen'ga and Everent, we could have them fall back to the Yatzu system's frontier. Weyland would have to back off to get reinforcements, then we can send them to the nearest planet-haven. Preferably one with a dry dock – it's risky enough shipping supplies to launch the _'Indictor_ , I don't much fancy the Corporation figuring us out and tracking the shipments to all our safehouses."

"So, I'll tell the General we don't want his troops then?" Parker chuckled. Jeica grinned warily and smoothed her hair back, almost forgetting to catch her cap as she mistakenly shoved it off her head.

"I just don't think we can risk the Corp following them back here – we'll lose the only Xeno Hive we have."

"Ah, yes, about that. The Xenos are getting anxious to build a permanent home, but without a Queen, they just keep bickering and fighting with one another. We should organise something to choose a representative of both –" A curt knock on the door interrupted them. Jeica raised an eyebrow, which earned her a shrug from her companion. She waltzed around the table, hitting the off switch as she neared the room's door, before buzzing it open, revealing their visitor.

"Uh, is this a bad time?" Jake asked awkwardly.

"Actually," Jeica hummed thoughtfully, casting a glance at Parker which confirmed to her he was thinking the same, "this would be a perfect time for you and 'Vena to join us."

"Er, that's the thing," Jake murmured embarrassedly. "I can't find her. I was hoping you'd have seen her around."

"Not recently, sorry," Jeica informed him. "She visited my house this morning to take a stroll with Mo', but that's all I've seen of her."

"Did she say where she was going?"

"The forest, I think. Geez, she didn't leave a note or anything?" Jake scratched the back of his neck awkwardly whilst averting his eyes.

"Must have slipped her mind."

"Riiiiight," Jeica drawled sceptically. However, she didn't press the matter, and instead made her way back to the holo-table. "Well, if you're gonna go look for her, shut the door on your way out. We don't want any prying eyes in here." Jake nodded and thumbed the door closed behind him, sighing drearily as he leaned against the cold, concrete wall of the underground bunker complex. He weighed his options: he could try his luck in the forest, or think up someone else she might have stopped by and visit them instead for more clues. Either way, the claustrophobic corridors weren't helping, so he made his way outside and leaned against the bunker entrance in the sunlight.

"Sir?" a timid marine asked tentatively, both hands clutched to his chest protectively. Jake nodded him the go-ahead. "Civilian by the name of Tyler on the line, insists that he speak to you." Jake quickly leapt up off the wall and offered his hand to the soldier.

"Yeah, yeah, uh, hand it over." The marine did as he was commanded, quickly handing over a small radio he'd had pressed against his sternum before scampering off, likely on another low-priority errand. "Tyler? Got news for me?" Jake implored eagerly.

"Yeah, plenty of it. You forgot your fucking phone, and contacting you is a nightmare with all these shitheads telling me: 'nooooo, he's busy right now, noooooo, can I help you instead?'. Took them sixteen fucking calls before they got it through their thick skulls that I wanted _you_ in particular. Rude pricks kept hanging up on me too."

"I can't imagine why," Jake drawled.

"Because you need to train your lapdogs better. _Anyway_ , I've run a couple of tests on some new hardware, and I'd like to move on to the real thing, but these guys aren't letting me into the spaceport control tower; they keep saying 'no civilians allowed', no matter how many times I tell them they're all useless asshats and I'm the only person doing anything worth shit around here. I need the communications tower on that thing to conduct long-range field work, so could you please tell these guys to let me in? I don't even need you over here – just tell them over the radio."

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. What's this new hardware you need to test so badly?" Jake frowned irritably at the exasperated sigh which crackled in through the earpiece.

"It's a drone. A sensor drone more accurately. It turns out nobody here has taken the time to do any cartography, so most of this planet is unexplored. I've outfitted this thing with top-of-the line equipment for scanning and mapping the entire globe, all I need is the colony's hyper-range communications dish – it's the only thing with enough radius to cover the entire planet."

"Hey uh, is this thing able to pick up lifeforms?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'll sanction your little expedition, on one condition. You scan the forest first."

"'Vee still avoiding you, huh?" Tyler asked. Jake could feel the shit-eating grin the young man was wearing through the handset. He just loved to see Jake miserable.

"Yes. Do we have a deal?" Jake grated out, barely holding back from berating his pseudo-friend.

"Sure. You help me take a major step in advancing this Resistance stronghold, and I'll help you stalk your girlfriend. Just don't tell her I helped you."

"I'll be there in five."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"Got another blip on the… nope, doesn't match a Xeno's signature. Hm… Oh! Another – wait, that's a snake. Interesting little buggers, those ones. Special venom puts certain species of animals into heats so it can eat their young… anyway, what were we doing again? Right. Xeno signatures… nope, not a one. Mapping next sector…"

"Can you hurry this up?" Jake groaned into his radio, swatting away a draping leaf as he ducked through the undergrowth which choked the deep woods.

"Hey, if you think any of your buzz-cut twats can do any better, be my guest, but this is a complicated procedure. Not to mention our target is intelligent, and if she figures out what's up, she could easily dodge us by jumping back into sectors we've already checked," Tyler retorted from his cosy seat in the control tower.

"I thought the system was automated," Jake snapped irritably. "Can't you just leave it to do its thing?"

"No, the _mapping_ systems are automated. It'd take me at least a day to program a search-and-retrieve routine into this thing, which is time I really can't be bothered wasting, and you probably don't want to spend waiting, so for the time being I have to resort to manual control." Jake almost face-planted as his foot sank suddenly into a patch of thick, muddy water. He cursed and yanked his leg out, stumbling into a tree, which he punched out of frustration, before composing himself. "Look, there's a new lifeform on the scanner – the _idiotus maximus_ , better known as Jake," Tyler quipped.

"Fuck off."

"I would love to, but I keep my promises, so I'm stuck here until you find your girlfriend." Jake listened to the faint buzz of Tyler's drone fade as it whizzed off ahead and gritted his teeth. "Uh… hang on a minute, I've got another lifeform on the scanner –"

"Is it 'Vena?"

"Well, no, but –"

"Then I don't wanna know."

"This is kinda –"

"No, seriously. Can you just shut up until we find her? I'm getting real sick of your shit."

"Fine, enjoy having your face eaten, fucktard." Jake paused, frowning slightly. The anger that had been building within him all day was battling desperately with his common sense as to whether or not he should give in and follow that up. A quiet crinkling of crisp leaves caught his attention, and he whirled in the direction of the disturbance, barely catching a glimpse of a pair of glowing emerald orbs. He immediately grabbed his sidearm and slipped it out of its holster. As he thumbed the safety, the bushes suddenly exploded, sending leaves flying everywhere as a large, vaguely feline, shaggy brown creature leapt at him.

They collided, sending Jake straight to the ground with the heavy creature atop him while his gun flopped onto the muddy ground somewhere nearby. Jake instinctively grabbed the creature's face either side of its deadly maw, wrestling with the bulky animal to keep the razor sharp teeth away from his throat. He wrenched his body aside, throwing the heavy mass off himself when the feline raised a paw to swipe at him, allowing him to roll to his feet and scramble away, torn between scrabbling in the dirt for his gun or putting some kind of distance between them.

Jake soon realised searching would be useless; only careful scrutiny would allow him to pick out his sleek, grey pistol from its resting place within the mud, dirt and dead leaves. Instead, he grabbed for the nearest low-hanging tree branch and hauled himself up. He was cut short by a winding blow to his back, forcing him to the ground with enough force to snap the branch he was holding. Jake grunted and rolled onto his back, swinging the branch with as much force as he could muster, grunting as the hard wood connected with the creature's head, jarring his arm. It squealed and leapt back, giving Jake room to stumble back onto his feet, pointing his stick at it threateningly. It circled, slowly, predatorily, and Jake matched its movements, keeping the branch between them at all times. He tripped over a root, almost sending him back into the mud, but he managed to catch himself just in time.

The creature saw its opening however, and pounced yet again, claws bared and teeth glinting in what light could pierce the thick canopy of the forest. Jake adjusted his stance, shoving the thick branch into its jaws and gripping it with both hands, pushing the feline away and holding it at arm's length. It dug all four of its legs into the ground, pushing with all its might as Jake did the same in a sick life-or-death game of reverse tug-of-war. Jake felt his muscles trembling in protest as he was obviously no match for the predator, and his feet were digging grooves into the mud as he was slowly backed up into a tree.

Suddenly, there was a startling _crunch_ and Jake felt his arms get tugged upwards as the stick bent sharply, the fulcrum of course being within the creature's jaws. Its ears flickered uncertainly for a moment, but it resumed pushing. Jake's back bumped into the tree behind him, giving him no more room to be pushed, which meant only the strength in his arms and the stick stood between him and the creature now. The creature's ears swivelled again, and this time Jake was given pause as well. A faint thrumming drifted through the trees. Tyler's drone? Maybe, but it sounded different. Regardless, the feline pressed on, and the stick was gradually being pushed closer and closer to Jake's chest, almost within lunge range now.

The feline jerked away, staring off into the distance apprehensively. Jake was aware of the fact now that the humming was louder. The trees began swaying as an all-too-strong breeze rushed through their leaves, and Jake prematurely began celebrating his victory when the feline looked ready to bolt. But the fear of the noise spurred it on to get its business finished faster. It gave its final leap at Jake, wanting to finish this here and now so it could drag its meal off somewhere quieter, safer. Jake attempted to smack it aside, snapping the branch in the process. The creature was undeterred, and sunk its teeth into his left shoulder, narrowly avoiding his throat. Then the light which filtered through the leaves disappeared, and a soft _thump_ sent a flurry of leaves spinning into the air. Tyler stood quickly from where he'd landed and whipped his pistol up, firing off three rounds into the beast. He was obviously aiming for centre mass for easier hits, as he hit shoulder-shoulder-chest, which unfortunately only served to piss the creature off.

The feline hissed in pain and with a snarl, leapt at Tyler, no longer looking for food but at a threat to its survival. Then it screeched in pain as a black blur fell square on the back of its neck like a dead weight, flattening it into the ground, before racking its shotgun and firing a buckshot into its skull. Sal turned slowly to give Jake a once over as he slung his shotgun over his shoulder.

"Medpack, Sal," Tyler commanded, pointing upwards. Sal nodded, and let his shotgun hang by its strap while he clambered up the trunk of a tree to reach the hovering vehicle which they had arrived on; the source of the steady, pulsating humming. A red box fell from the sky moments later, landing precisely in Tyler's open hands. He set the bright container on the ground and flipped its red-cross-adorned lid open, grabbing several items from within.

There was a sting in Jake's leg, then the searing pain in his shoulder dulled and everything went out of focus. He wasn't aware of Tyler as he ripped off the ex-marine's blood-soaked shirt and began cleaning his wound. What he could feel, was a slight tug on his mind, an intense rush of worry, and muffled, hurried footsteps coming towards him, yet strangely fading from his hearing…

Jake passed out, and Tyler briefly wondered if he'd used too much painkiller. Behind him, two Xenomorphs burst through the shrubbery, grinding to a halt beside him.

" _We heard gunfire –_ " Mozart began, but was immediately cut off by a worried shriek.

" _What the hell happened?_ " Advena demanded, nearly shoving Tyler over in her desperation to get closer to her lover.

"Oh, the usual. I do my best to keep everyone safe, nobody fucking listens to me, people get hurt. Oh, and by the way, when he wakes up, tell him I expect him to bail me out of one count of assault, and one count of vehicular theft. I've patched him up best I can, but you should get him to a real doctor pretty damn soon; there's only so much I can do." Advena nodded desperately. "Also, I hope there's no hard feelings, but I had to help him find you in order to get permission to do vital reconnaissance which will help this entire colony."

" _Tyler. Doctor._ "

"Right, right. Sal, help me into the ship will you?"

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jake groaned and hauled himself upright, immediately regretting it as pain raced up his spine, bringing tears to his eyes at the sudden rush of excruciating pain coming from his shoulder. Advena jerked upright before him, quickly swinging her domed head to face him. As Jake panted off the stress, his eyes slowly roamed the room. He was in an infirmary; he could tell by the pristine white, the rows of narrow, metal framed beds – one of which he lay in – and the equipment stored on small trolleys haphazardly strewn about the room.

Advena uncoiled herself from a small, cushioned chair and crept over to him, anger still bubbling just below the surface, but relief and worry dominating the majority of her mind.

" _Are you okay?_ " she asked tentatively. Jake nodded unsteadily, running a hand through his hair experimentally. He was in desperate need of a shower, but other than that, he could be far, far worse.

"Yeah, I think I'm alright," he croaked with a weak smile.

" _Then what the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed! If Tyler hadn't been there – gah! You're so_ stupid _sometimes!_ "

"I needed to talk to you, to smooth things over, 'Vena. Things didn't really go too well last night…"

" _We had a fight, Jacob. A fight that's not over yet, and a fight which requires some alone time to cool off. Hence why I went to the forest, where no sane human being with a shred of intelligence would run into, blind of the dangers,_ alone _._ "

"I know, I know," Jake groaned, placing is face in his palm. "I'm not usually this clingy, I promise. But god damn does this whole Bond thing fuck with my head. It feels very wrong to be out of telepathic range, to not feel your presence in my mind twenty-four-seven as I have been for the past few months."

" _Hm, that sounds somewhat like a withdrawal symptom. Some lesser species do tend to get addicted to telepathy; looks like humans might be one of them._ "

"Lesser species? Come on 'Vena."

" _I'm still pissed at you_ ," she reminded him, " _in fact, probably more now than ever. If you plan on trying to kill yourself every time we have a fight, I think I might have to seek a lower-maintenance partner._ "

"Okay, okay. Look, you're right. Let's just… 'cool off', and talk once we've all calmed down. I'll probably be sleeping here for the next couple of days anyway."

" _Oh, yeah,_ now _he gets it_ ," Advena mumbled more to herself than to her partner. She dropped onto the floor, and with a steady _tip-tap_ of her claws, paced out of the room, leaving Jake alone with his thoughts. He supposed it was better to get all this 'withdrawal' crap out of the way now, in a relatively safe environment. He couldn't imagine how badly a disconnection could screw up a field operation if he didn't train himself to deal with it.

Either way, he had a few days to get started on it.


	2. Comfort

**A/N: Back to answering questions in the A/Ns. In answer to:  
** **Jobe** **: Interesting you should mention that, as Jeica herself has marksman training. I wouldn't hold out hope for seeing any more gay couples in the story though, as given the universe, they tend to be rare or hiding in closets.  
** **CelfwrDderwydd** **: I dedicate the second half of this chapter to you and your never-ending torrent of ideas. The plans I had originally were much more boring than yours.  
** **Rocket Guy** **: If you want to talk about something other than this story specifically, I would appreciate it if you flicked me a PM, as I don't like making these things longer than they need to be. But seeing as I'm here, I believe I do have a dusty, old, abandoned, neglected, sad, lonely Twitter account lying around somewhere under my usual nickname.  
** **Guest** **: Hate to be that guy, but I honestly despise the prequel movies and ignore them as much as possible. I'll acknowledge the existence of Engineers because of the space jockey in the first movie, but that's about it. So sorry, no neomorphs or protomorphs.**

The calm evening air was interrupted by a loud clattering of several carefully-stacked objects raining down upon the hard ground. Mozart skidded across the dirt road, apologising profusely to anyone who could hear him, before shooting forward again. A backpack flapped haphazardly off one shoulder as he sped down the short streets, narrowly avoiding flattening himself against a wall with every corner. Of all the days Jeica could forget her phone… As he neared his destination, he quickly hopped onto two legs and opened the bag up, heaving a sigh of relief when he was assured the phone still lay in the bottom, as if he had expected it to have vanished. Then he stepped up to the door, knocked politely, and watched as it creaked open from the timid contact. Confusedly, he darted inside, calling out to the home's owner.

" _Hey, Jake, have you seen –_ "

He ground to a halt when he stepped inside the home's living room, unable to do anything but stare at the sight before him. He cocked his head slightly as he regarded Jake, plastered to the wall by thin strips of resin, limbs limp as he waited patiently for the substance to dry.

"Hey," Jake greeted him casually.

" _Hey…_ " Mozart replied with a timid little wave. " _I'm, uh, just gonna…_ " he mumbled as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Jake nodded, and watched the Xeno scurry back out the door, politely clicking it shut behind him. The human tested his restraints, finding they were almost dry enough to break. All he'd wanted was some blankets from their bed, but Advena didn't take too kindly to having her nest disturbed. He couldn't exactly sleep in the infirmary forever, and the couch got damn cold with only a coat to ward off the night. Maybe he should've just asked around. He tugged his wrist towards his body again, hearing an odd mixture between a _squelch_ and a quiet _crack_. He put a bit more of his strength behind the movement, and his hand jerked free, almost smacking himself in the face. With his now free hand, he made quick word of the rest of his binds and flopped to the floor indignantly.

He shuddered slightly, a feeling of relief lifting the heavy knot of dread that had been sitting in his gut for the past hour or two. The last time he had been stuck to a wall like that… not good memories. He plucked his thankfully-not-stuck-to-the-ceiling phone off its shelf and dialled up the head of inventory, only having to wait a few rings for a man to pick up on the other end.

"Bunker Three Head of Inventory. How can I help you?"

"Hi, Sergeant Harlor here. Just wondering if you have any blankets in storage?"

"Shit, sorry Sarge, we just gave out the last an hour ago. But we did order a new shipment, so you can check the spaceport to see if it's arrived yet."

"Alright, thanks, I'll do that." Jake sighed as he thumbed the end call button and pocketed the device. He set a leisurely pace, not particularly feeling in the mood for a late afternoon jog; drills were no fun without Advena around anyway. Not that he really needed to cram in training on top of all the walking he did to get everywhere and the workouts shifting equipment and organising the colony gave him. Their selection of vehicles was very lacklustre, having only the trucks they'd brought from the _Merciful Indictor_ , six cargo loaders and a couple of small flatbed car-forklift hybrids, which meant most work had to be done by hand.

Jake was jolted from his thoughts when somebody rounded a corner and collided with him at full speed, sending them both toppling onto the ground.

"Soldier!" the man squeaked, scrambling to his feet with a terrified expression on his face. "Someone's pulled a gun on the spaceport's cargo attendant! Please, you have to do something!" Jake groaned. Nothing could ever be simple.

"Alright, alright, I was heading over there anyway…" he grumbled, acutely aware of how unarmed he was, but confident enough in his training to continue on anyway. He crossed through the heavy gates and onto the asphalt of the spaceport, soon finding himself at the double doors of the cargo storage warehouse. Within was a small lobby akin to a post office, with a desk at the front where the cargo attendant would verify ownership and hand out packages that had come in through the spaceport. "Of course," Jake sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Who else?"

"Oh believe you me buddy, keep trying my patience and I'll blow your fucking kneecaps out! Do you want to be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your miserable, pathetic, useless, shitbag life? Do you?" The attendant, hands raised in the air and a cocky expression in his eyes, spotted Jake and raised an eyebrow, cocking his head slightly at Tyler, who had him by the collar with a gun thrust under his chin.

"Where do you keep getting all these guns from, Tyler?" Jake demanded, leaning in the doorway. Even looking at the man's back as he was, Jake could see Tyler visibly tense up in anger.

"Where do you keep recruiting these fucking pricks from, Jacob?" he shot back, lowering the gun to face his friend. "I have one, small, package, with my name printed on the fucking top and a clear screening. But no, this asshole won't give it to me!"

"Have you ever considered asking nicely?" Jake asked patiently.

"Oh yeah, for the first twenty minutes I was being _very_ polite. After half and hour, that's when I get mad. After forty fucking minutes is when I pull a gun on this bitch, and if he wastes even five more minutes of my time, I'm going to make sure he _never fucking walks again_." Tyler growled this last part at the attendant, who seemed less intimidated than he should.

"What's the problem here?" Jake huffed to the attendant.

"Uh, the crazy faggot pulled a gun on me?" the attendant answered as if it should have been obvious. Tyler bristled at the 'f' word and tightened his grip on his pistol, almost whirling and firing off a round right then and there.

"Yeah, I know that Einstein. I mean why aren't you giving him the package?" The attendant seemed genuinely taken aback, as if Jake had just revealed he'd never heard of a television before.

"Well, I mean, it's Tyler!" he protested. "Tyler Doelle. The dangerous one that we shouldn't be giving what he wants."

"Oh bullshit!" Tyler exclaimed. "Go on, say the real reason, see how well that goes down. Tell him you're being a jackass because I'm gay. I'm a faggot. I'm a queer freak. Say it, I _dare_ you."

"Okay, this isn't getting anywhere. Tyler, wait outside a minute, will you?" Tyler shot him a death glare and made to tell him to bugger off, but Jake cut him off before he could open his mouth. "Or do you want to keep threatening him until the marines show up? I can take care of this." Tyler shoved past him roughly on his way out, muttering curses under his breath and shoving his pistol into its holster. Once Jake was sure he'd left, he turned back to the attendant with an unamused expression. "So, the package was screened?"

"Yes…" the attendant replied hesitantly.

"Did it raise any flags?"

"Well, no, but…"

"Then do your damn job and give me the package. If you want to take away people's rights and freedom, you can crawl your sorry ass back to the Wey-Yu."

"I don't get why you're sticking up for the gay," the attendant grumbled after he'd retreated into the storage room behind his desk. He slapped the appropriate parcel onto the plastic table irritably. "You ought to know what his kind are like. Greedy, selfish, uncaring of humanity's struggles. All they care about is their disgusting perverted lust. I mean, come on, you saw what he did to this colony! Sold us all out just like that!"

"And then he commandeered the ship, set us all free, and blew it up," Jake reminded him. "If he hadn't, he would be sitting on a fat stack of cash living the good life on one of the Corporation's high-class beach colonies sipping whiskey from a coconut. And there would be nobody around to call him a faggot and give him a hard time, too." Jake grabbed the package and turned to leave, pausing when the attendant left one parting remark.

"Watch yourself Sergeant; he's an unstable one. He's stabbed us in the back once, he'll do it again." Jake just shrugged him off and paced outside, quickly spotting Tyler leaning against a wall beyond the security fence of the spaceport, under the shade of a small veranda. Jake handed him the package with a sympathetic smile.

"About time," Tyler huffed, snatching the package away and making to leave.

"Look, Tyler," Jake sighed, "I know it's been hard, especially after all you've given up for us, but you can't just –"

"You think that's what this is about?" Tyler snapped angrily. "You think that I give a shit about the money, the hero's welcome, the respect and admiration? Let me tell you something Jacob. All my life, I've wanted nothing more than to help people, to make other people's lives better, to see nobody needlessly suffering. And all I've gotten for my efforts is more pain, more heartache. I've lost everything Jacob, _twice._ And fuck if I'm gonna let it happen a third time. I'm not angry about the money, or the assholes who try to beat me in dark alleys, I'm pissed because these people aren't letting me help them, even though I'm clearly the only fucking person who can. I'm trying to keep this colony secure, trying to keep the Xenos hidden and off Weyland's radar, I'm trying to study the Xenomorphs to help us live together and understand one another, I'm trying to advance our tech so we actually have a chance in hell of winning this fucking war you're so intent on dying for, and I'm trying to enjoy some downtime with my boyfriend. But every, single, step of the way, they're fighting me! They're blocking me off, lashing out at me, setting me back."

Tyler's shoulders shuddered slightly, and Jake almost made a move to offer some comfort, but the young scientist jerked away, not done yet. "I'm pissed because this is my last chance. I can't handle any more, Jacob. All I have left is Sal, my friends, and this stupid colony full of idiots. I'm pissed because I feel helpless, like I can't do enough and people are only ever going to offer me obstacles, and I feel that I'm going to lose everything once more, and it's going to be the fault of these… these fucking shitheads who don't like me 'cause I'm gay. So you can fuck off with your 'I know it's been hard', because you don't know shit, Jacob."

"Tyler, we –"

"No, shut up Jake. I'm sick of hearing your fucking half-formed sentiments. Fuck you, fuck this colony, and fuck me for caring. Sayonara." Jake grimaced as he watched the young man storm off and rubbed his eyes warily. Tyler was obviously too upset to talk it out rationally, but maybe he could fix that. Maybe, he just needed somewhere to vent his anger… Jake recalled something he'd overheard during a planning session for the colony's expansion, and rubbed his chin as an idea came to mind.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jake knocked on the ship's outer hatch, adjusting the duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he awaited an answer. Tyler heaved the door open with a scowl that only deepened when he saw who was on his figurative porch.

"You again," Tyler groaned, pinching his nose in frustration. "Would you kindly fuck off? I'm busy."

"No half-formed sentiments," Jake promised, "just come with me, and I'll leave you alone afterwards." Jake didn't wait for an answer, and instead opted to grab him by the shoulder and give him an encouraging tug. Tyler didn't look at all happy with the interaction, but let the hatch swing shut behind him. Jake took that as a sign of agreement and began leading Tyler away from his home, away from the town, towards the shoreline. A little ways off, they could pick out a large building in the darkening light. Jake pulled his jacket around himself tighter as the night's beginning brought along a cold bite in its wind.

Soon, the two of them came to a stop, both staring at the large building which looked much like a cross between a low warehouse and a garage. Large windows sectioned off into small squares by flimsy framing lined the corrugated iron walls, wooden cross-beams and pillars supporting the inside as well as comprising the racks which would have once held sea vehicles, but had been empty for many years.

"You brought me to a run-down boat shed. Fucking brilliant," Tyler remarked sarcastically. Jake ignored him and dropped his duffel bag onto the ground, before unzipping it and pulling out a pair of baseball bats. "You're fucking kidding me. You want to play baseball, in the middle of the night, next to an abandoned boat shed. You're an imbecile, and I'm going home." Jake shook his head, handed Tyler a bat, then stalked over to the shed. He held his own bat in place above his shoulder, tensing, then swung. With a mighty _crash_ , the window shattered into a million pieces beneath his blow.

Tyler, for once, was speechless. He stared at the glass which coated the ground, then at the shed, his bat, and finally Jake.

"It's due to be demolished so we can build a harbour," Jake explained. "Which means, nobody's going to care if a couple of maniacs go to town on it. So, what do ya say? How's about we fuck this thing up?" Tyler remained silent, staring down at the bat in thought. Finally, he stepped forward and swung with all his might, punching a hole straight through the adjacent window. Defiantly, he swung his pseudo-weapon back up, crunching through the pieces which still clung to the frame, striking again and again to make sure every square was empty. Jake stepped back and watched as Tyler whirled around, burying his bat into the next window and causing cracks to wash across its surface. With a grunt, he tugged the bat out and swung again, shattering a good half of the window.

Jake watched Tyler tire himself out and decided it was time for phase two. He retrieved a four-pack of vodka from his bag. Curious as to what else he had planned, Tyler wandered over, dragging his bat through the grass behind him.

"I don't drink," he huffed, annoyed, panting slightly, but not seething with rage.

"Good, else you might've felt bad about this next part." Jake popped the lid off bottle and shoved a small rag into the neck, tilting the bottle from side to side to get it good and soaked. Tyler immediately knew what was coming next, even as Jake handed him the bottle and fished out a lighter. Tyler bit his lip as Jake lit the end of the rag, then adjusted his grip on the bottle, simply watching the flame crawl down the cloth. Shaking away from the sight, he took a good run-up and hurled the bottle, watching with satisfaction as it shattered upon a windowsill and showered the interior with flames.

"Take that you piece of shit!" he yelled enthusiastically as Jake handed him another. Tyler wasted no time in throwing this one as hard as he could, sending it crashing through an unbroken window and setting a boat rack ablaze. Tyler let Jake throw the last two, opting to flop down onto the ground and simply watch the fire take ahold of the old building. The wooden beams and racks within had been set alight, and soon high flames were flickering out of the broken windows silently as the duo watched from a distance.

Jake was content to simply sit silently and stare, happy in the knowledge that Tyler was quiet, and if he was quiet, he wasn't frothing with rage. "Thank you," he said in a voice barely above a whisper, surprising Jake. "That was surprisingly soothing."

"Hey, we're always here to help, you hear?" Jake replied equally quietly with a small smile tugging at his lips. "You don't have to do anything alone. 'Vena, Jeica, Mo', Sal and I, we'll always be here to help you when you need us." Tyler didn't reply, and Jake wondered briefly if he'd overstepped his boundaries by saying something that was probably a 'half-formed sentiment', but Tyler did eventually speak again, still not tearing his eyes away from the all-consuming fire.

"You know, I always used to wonder what Advena saw in you. I think I'm starting to understand now."

"What?" Jake spluttered. That had almost sounded like a genuine compliment.

"Starting to," Tyler reiterated with a hint of a playful smirk, though Jake couldn't tell whether that was a trick of the light cast by the dancing flames or not. "You're still an asshat."

"That's more like it," Jake chuckled. Soon, the fire ate away the supports of the boat shed, and the roof collapsed, smothering the majority of the roaring heat, leaving only glowing embers in the mounds of charcoal and warped metal. Without warning, Tyler slowly picked himself up off the ground and wordlessly headed home. But Jake knew an angry silence from a peaceful one. Mission accomplished, he lay himself down on the grass and stared at the stars for a moment, before shivering and remembering with an amused grin that he'd never found that blanket he was after.

~~~~~~~~~~(Earlier that day)~~~~~~~~~~

Jeica paused in the street, peering across the way at the small park beyond. Children were screaming and laughing in delight upon a fibreglass playground, while others still ran around excitably on the well-maintained grass. It was an odd place to meet, and for a moment she thought she might have misunderstood the scrawled and frankly poorly-written note that had been slipped under her front door. All doubts were washed away when she spotted a Xenomorph in the far distance, keenly observing the children from the shadows of a large tree. The alien was barely noticeable as it blended in quite well with the dark shade, but Jeica had been getting better at picking them out now that she was living with one.

Jeica approached the Xeno, who was laying on the ground on her stomach, head lifted barely above the short grass, arms and legs tucked about her neatly, much like a cat. Jeica wordlessly sat down beside her, turning her gaze to match that of the Xenomorph's. Even from this distance, she could still clearly see the kids engaging in various activities. One group was playing some distorted version of cops and robbers, where some would loudly exclaim they were rebels and point at others, stating that they were Weyland soldiers. An argument would then break out of who got to be the rebels, followed by some crying.

Elsewhere, kids were pretending to be Xenomorphs – with meek growling noises and comical snarls – while others squealed in delight and got chased around the playground by the 'monsters'. Others still simply took advantage of the limited playground, swinging on monkey bars or zooming down slides, sitting on swings or dangling on ropes.

"So… there a reason why we're here?" Jeica asked eventually.

" _Not particularly. I just like to come here every so often. Your children are such strange and delightful creatures. Even in trying times, you nurture and protect them, give them space to grow and change. It was never like that with my Hive; naivety and foolishness was to be done away with as soon as possible if we were to survive. At least, that's what my Queen decided. She meant well, but Sal and Mozart…_ they _got to grow up normally, have fun, have weakness, grow stronger at their own pace. It's quite probable that I could have too, but the Queen made a decision, and for better or worse, it's done and in the past. I don't hold it against her._ "

"Do Xenos ever have kids? Other than the Queen, I mean."

" _Oh, all the time. Especially in bigger Hives. The Queen cannot give every child love and attention all the time, so often she will allow others to create and raise children of their own, or foster hers._ " Jeica nodded, going quiet for a moment, a question itching at her mind but unsure as to whether it was impolite to ask. Finally, she decided that Advena would understand her lack of ill intent, and went ahead.

"Do you want children, Advena?"

" _I've thought about it before,_ " Advena answered honestly. " _But being in a relationship with Jake complicates things. A Xenomorph child might be dangerous for Jake, and I might be dangerous for a human child. As much as I love human children, they are so… fragile. I would never forgive myself if I hurt one with a careless claw._ "

"Mo' tells me that its quite common for Xenos in interspecies relationships to raise children from either or both species," Jeica informed her. "So if I had to guess, I would say you'll be fine either way." Advena grimaced.

" _Jacob's many scratches and little scars would tell you otherwise,_ " she chuckled nervously. " _He can handle them because he is both a soldier and a fully-grown adult, but a child?_ " Advena left that sentence hanging, and Jeica knew full well what kind of nightmare that would be. Not only for the child, but for herself and Jacob when everyone began storming their home with pitchforks and torches accusing them of abusing children.

"Well, you have plenty of time to figure it out anyway," Jeica assured her, placing a comforting hand on her bony shoulder. "You guys are young, still at the very beginning of your relationship. Live a little, then talk to Jacob when you think you two are ready. But I've probably already said more than I have any right to on the topic."

" _Perhaps,_ " Advena humoured her noncommittally. " _But I did not ask you here to talk about children – well, not_ my _children, anyway. I've been thinking about our Queen problem, and I've come up with a solution of sorts._ "

"Go on then," Jeica urged, "I think we're all open to pretty much anything at this point."

" _Well, logically speaking, the human Bonded to the Queen should be a military leader, because they will effectively be the King of this Hive. The King and Queen will be in charge of this colony, so it only makes sense to get a human who actually knows what they're doing._ "

"That does make a lot of sense," Jeica agreed, "but there's only two leaders here; Parker, and me."

" _Well, nobody trusts Lieutenant Parker enough to give him access to all our minds. What about you? You are a strong leader, not to mention honest and trustworthy._ "

"That's a lot of responsibility to dump on a gal," Jeica murmured. "I dunno, 'Vena. I'm more of a field leader; I don't fancy being confined to this colony for the rest of my life. Not to mention Mozart, a Queen? He's a sweet guy and all, but… uh, submissive? Naïve? Self-conscious? I don't know if he would be the best choice…"

" _Then we bring a good leader in from elsewhere and Bond them to one of the Elders we have… damn, but we're all out of Royal Jelly and need a Queen to make more…_ "

"Then, we put our asses into gear and get ready for a mission," Jeica told her. "The Corporation collects that stuff; all we have to do is raid one of their Xeno labs. We could even rescue the captive Hive while we're there."

" _Yes! Yes!_ " Advena cried, leaping to her feet. " _That is an excellent idea! How soon can we be ready? Tomorrow?_ "

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy there tiger," Jeica soothed, patting the air in a 'calm down' motion. "We still have plenty to do before we're ready for a mission of that size, and Tyler's not exactly in the mood to help us plan something out right now, not to mention you still need to make up with Jake if you're going to tackle an operation together – you're sure as hell not doing it alone."

Advena visibly deflated, but could see the sense in her words. "Hey, chin up girl. You'll be among the first to know when we're ready, alright?" Advena nodded and lay back down, placing her head in the soft grass so she could allow her muscles to go slack.

" _Thank you for the talk, Jeica. It does make me feel better knowing we have a plan, even if we're not ready to carry it out yet._ " Jeica gave her a supportive smile, patted her tail reassuringly, and took that as her cue to leave. She did have to take an important call soon, after all, and she needed to go somewhere private in order to do so. Later, she would be horrified to discover her phone was not in her pocket as she had thought it was, only to be relieved a few minutes later when Mozart would deliver it to her, completely out of breath.

Advena, for her part, continued to observe the children from her position on the ground, sighing wistfully as she mulled it all over. Maybe she was being a bit hard on herself; most of the injuries she inflicted on Jake were during moments of passion anyway, when her mind was too absorbed by rapture to exercise proper caution. But she didn't want to think about that, not now while she was still pissed at him for repeatedly being incredibly insensitive towards her kind, her feelings and her culture. Just that morning he'd tried to mess up her nest by stealing a blanket – talk about adding insult to injury!

Advena took a deep breath, clearing her mind and calming herself down. She turned her thoughts back to children, wondering if a human soldier would be able to handle a Xenomorph child after all. While not ideal, many humans were trained or experienced in dealing with pain, and it's not like the child would be setting out to hurt its father. Just little accidents from time to time. She supposed Jeica was right; no point thinking about it now. They were still young, and still fighting a war. Either of them could fail to return home any day in the upcoming years, and she felt it wouldn't be right to put a child through that when there was an alternative, even if said alternative wasn't her strong point; being patient.

Advena jumped slightly in fright when she was violently yanked from her thoughts by a clatter of several plastic objects hitting something. Her head jerked upwards and she immediately locked on to the source of the noise, visibly relaxing when her gaze settled on a young girl who had dropped a blanket full of plastic cutlery. Advena tilted her head curiously as the girl flattened out the thin blanket and began meticulously setting out saucers and plastic teacups atop it. She placed a set in front of Advena, one for herself, and one for each of the four stuffed animals she had brought with her.

"There!" she exclaimed proudly, "now you don't have to be lonely anymore!" Advena tilted her head the other way, her body unable to utter a confused remark, blink confusedly or raise an eyebrow in confusion. The girl raised an empty plastic teapot in both hands, almost dropping the little lid which perched atop it precariously. "Do you want some tea?" she asked politely. Advena, dumbfounded, nodded and slowly began unfurling herself so she could sit upright. "It's only pretend tea though; mommy says we can drink real tea when we're older." True to her words, the little girl began pretending to pour tea into all the cups, starting with Advena's and finishing with her own, amazing the alien with her manners. "Did you hurt your back?" she asked innocently. Advena paused midway through picking up the tiny, dainty little plastic cup, having been caught out by an equally tiny human of some very young age. She had been pressing her body down in an uncomfortable slouch in order to make herself as small and unintimidating as possible, but the child's wide eyes had seen right through it.

Advena sighed and straightened herself out, folding her big legs beneath her to mirror the girl's seating position. "Wow, you're tall!" she cried, amazement glinting in her little amber eyes. "I wanna climb on your back!" Advena paused once more, slowly placed her little cup and saucer back on the blanket, and nodded hesitantly. The little girl squealed in delight and leapt to her feet, running over to the big alien as fast as her little legs would carry her, as if she expected Advena to change her mind at any moment. She winced mutely as the girl unknowingly trod on her tail, but managed to remain still while she attempted to stretch her way up to the vastly-taller alien's shoulders. Advena smirked slightly and lifted her tail, pushing her upwards by her rump until her pudgy little arms could wrap themselves around Advena's neck securely. She found that while slightly uncomfortable, she still had no problem breathing, so she opted to let it slide and instead concentrated on helping the child to support her weight by loosely wrapping her tail around both their bodies, holding them together.

The little girl giggled and shifted her weight a little higher, so she could see over Advena's shoulders. "Let's go to the playground!" Advena glanced down at the little playset that had oh-so-carefully been set out, accidentally neglecting to move. "Playground! Playground!" Advena huffed and gracefully dropped to all fours, being mindful of the little human clinging to her back. She set off at a brisk walk, relishing in the child's squeals of joy. "Faster!" Advena grinned and cranked it up to a mild jog which had the little girl bouncing up and down with every step, cheering wildly the whole way.

When the girl showed no signs of getting off, Advena decided to do a couple of laps around the playground, ever aware of the kids stopping to point and gasp at them, uttering childish little 'wow's and 'coooool's as they watched.

"Hey, I wanna see!" a child protested from atop the tall platform the slide was attached to, shoving the boy in front of him in an attempt to see Advena and her passenger. Advena knew a disaster when she saw one, and quickly wrapped her tail back around the little girl so she could put her head down and launch into a sprint. The little boy who had been shoved shrieked as he toppled forward over the edge of the platform, and Advena slid across the bark-covered ground of the playground on two feet, arms outstretched moments before the boy landed in them safely.

Advena let out a shaky breath as a man and a woman rushed over to the chorus of accusatory 'ooh's, and gently placed both children safely upon the ground.

"Brendon! We do not push people!" the woman scolded. "It's dangerous and you could really hurt someone!" Meanwhile the man crouched down to the little boy whom Advena had caught.

"Are you okay Nathan?" he asked softly. The boy nodded brightly.

"The zennomof catched me!" Nathan exclaimed energetically, proceeding to go over the events with added sound affects and wild hand motions. The man chuckled briefly and turned his eyes to Advena, who was sitting on her haunches looking somewhat ashamed, as she had been the one to stir up the trouble in the first place.

"I honestly don't know what I should be more surprised about," he admitted, "the fact that you managed to get the kids so riled up, or the fact that a big hulking alien is a natural with children." That wasn't exactly what Advena had been expecting to hear, but she made to apologise anyway. "Oh, uh, can't hear you by the way," he explained as he stood. Ah, the man, like all of the original colonists, wasn't a telepath. He wandered over to the woman and briefly discussed something with her, heading back over when she announced:

"Alright team, snack time! Come on, let's head back inside." The man leaned against the slide tower casually, regarding Advena carefully.

"Look, I know you probably mean well and all, but…" he sighed, averting his eyes. "We can't just have strangers running around playing with the kids – especially strangers that nobody here can understand." Advena nodded sullenly. He noticed her downcast expression, and felt guilty that she didn't get a say in any of this; she seemed to genuinely care about and cherish children, just as he and Sue did. Being an alien, she probably didn't even understand what she did wrong. "But hey, you're a natural, and god knows these kids need the exposure if this symbiosis thing is gonna work out. So if you want to, maybe sometime you're not busy, we could grab a coffee and actually have a conversation – with the help of a translator, of course. That way, you won't be a stranger anymore."

Advena nodded gratefully. She would like that, to be apart of these kids' lives, to help them grow and learn and laugh and play. But she had been rather reckless, and for that she knew she probably shouldn't come here anymore. Until the caretakers accepted her, that is. "Anyway, Sue's probably living a nightmare in there by herself, so I should probably…" Advena nodded again, and the man smiled, before quickly jogging over to the preschool, where the kids were having a snack.

As Advena wandered home, she entertained herself with thoughts of seeing the little girl again soon, being able to hear her giggle and scream in joy, and smiled.


	3. Christmas Special

**A/N: Huzzah for our first major time skip. This story takes place much later on for the sake of Christmas spirit, so enjoy and don't feel too confused if some characters seem to have suddenly changed.  
A bit of a short one today, but I had to get this done and posted today, as I won't have internet for the next week and I don't want to post it _after_ Christmas.**

The evening air settled in not at a freezing temperature which would have young couples huddled under a blanket with mugs of hot chocolate, smiling all lovey-dovey at one another as they stared into the dancing flame of an open fire, but at a crisp, gently-nipping cold which had people hurrying their asses up when rushing home for the night. Not exactly the most cliché setting for Christmas Eve, but the simple fact of the matter is that the original colonists landed in this specific spot on this specific planet, where the Galactic Standard Time dictated Christmas to be during early spring. Jake could already imagine getting into an argument with Advena about how it wasn't stupid that all Christmas movies took place in snowy winters solely because the original USA on Earth just happened to experience that season on the 25th of December.

He sighed peacefully, his breath not coming out in a plume of steam, but as regular breath, chest deflating beneath moderate clothing; enough to keep the bite out of the air, but not exactly scarves and beanies with woollen mittens slung over delicate hands.

"Sucks it doesn't snow here," Jake commented idly as he observed the sparsely-populated streets of the Resistance colony. People stood on ladders resting against their homes, on roofs or supporting from the ground in order to get decorations up; mostly in the way of red and green fairy lights.

" _Why's that?_ " Advena asked curiously, tucking her tail around herself miserably. Despite the relatively moderate temperature, she, along with several other Xenos, was decked out in a thick scarf draped around her neck, along with a small beanie perched awkwardly on the back of her elongated head. It turned out Xenos weren't very fond of the cold, and she'd spent all of the previous winter getting sick and being miserable – something that couldn't be helped by wrapping up like humans do, as fitting clothing on Xenomorphs was much harder than it seemed. Chicken soup and lots of blankets worked wonders on her though, and Jake got many, many brownie points over the course of that season.

"Well, in the spirit of Christmas, it would have been nice to build a snowman with you. I'm sure you would have loved it."

" _Don't lie to yourself, Jake. You just want to throw snowballs at me,_ " she accused him amusedly.

"That too," Jake chuckled, rubbing her dome fondly. "Now where is that little guy? He's late."

" _Little guy?_ " Advena questioned him, " _He's bigger than you by a long shot, Jake._ "

"Yeah, I know, but he _acts_ like he's little. Always blushing and mumbling quietly. Real polite too. I suppose it just goes to show how similar our races can be. Y'know, like you can still be an introvert even when you've got big claws and sharp teeth."

" _Here he comes now, I think._ " Sure enough, the timid Xenomorph in question padded over to them, shuffling on two legs shyly while fidgeting with his free hands.

"Hey Mo'," Jake greeted him casually.

" _Hello Jacob,_ " Mozart returned, casting a quick glance around himself. " _I apologise for my lateness; I had to make sure Jeica didn't see me go out._ "

"Uh, okay," Jake uttered, deciding it was better just to accept it. "So what did you want to talk about?"

" _What would you give a human woman as a gift?_ " he asked, turning away embarrassedly. He was certainly underdressed for the weather, proven by a slight shiver which ran down his spines.

"Uh, geez, it's been a while. Hm… lemme see… something shiny I guess? Girls love pretty things. Like jewellery."

" _Human women like jewellery?_ " Mozart double-checked, and received a half-hearted nod from Jake.

"I mean, generally speaking, yeah."

" _Thank you. I shall search for some jewellery then._ " Then Mozart raised his head, took another quick look around, and bolted, allowing himself to fall onto all fours for the extra speed. The duo watched him disappear around a corner for a moment, partially stunned by his frantic, sporadic movements. When Advena had regained her composure, she leaned in closer to Jake.

" _You do realise he was talking about Jeica, right?_ "

"What? He never said that. What are you talking about?"

" _It was implied!_ " Advena cried, exasperated.

"Well shit," Jake muttered, scratching his chin as he stared at the spot he'd last seen Mozart. "It's probably a bit late to change my answer now, isn't it?" Advena nodded, though Jake didn't really need the confirmation. "It'll certainly give us something interesting to watch at the party tomorrow, I guess."

" _Mm, speaking of which, does Tyler know? He gets distracted very easily with his little projects. Actually, maybe it would be better if we told Sal._ "

"Eh, it's Jeica's party; she'll sort it out." Advena rolled her figurative eyes at his behaviour, beginning to saunter off in the direction of their house.

" _You're lucky that I'm growing icicles off my ass here or I might've argued the point. As it is, I'm very eager to get back into our nice, cosy living room._ "

"And hey, if you like, I can help warm your ass back up for you."

" _Oh, grow up Jake,_ " Advena scoffed, despite not trying in the slightest to hide her amused grin. Jake chuckled to himself victoriously as he jogged to catch up to her; she wasn't kidding about the eagerness to get home, if her quick gait was anything to go by.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~

"It's not stupid!" Jake protested as he and Advena trudged through the rapidly-cooling evening streets. "It's like a birthday."

" _Except birthdays actually hold some significance in their date. Christmas is just so… arbitrary. 'Oh hey, let's pick a random day of the year to give each other presents, because we're humans!'_ "

"Hey, Christmas has plenty of meaning!" Jake argued, sidestepping a rushing citizen. The town was mostly empty as people took to homes, huddling in the warm areas, laughter drifting from well-lit houses as everyone forgot their troubles and had a merry Christmas. "Jesus Christ died on Christmas, or something."

" _Jeez, everyone must have hated him if they made a public holiday to celebrate his death._ "

"Okay, I admit, that was a poor explanation. He like, died for our sins or something like that. He did a nice thing, so we celebrate him."

" _So you're a Christian?_ "

"What? No."

" _Then why are you celebrating a Christian holiday?_ "

"Ah, forget it!" Jake exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation. "You're impossible, you know that?" Advena slapped his butt with her tail playfully as they stepped onto Jeica's front porch, grinning from ear to figurative ear.

" _Oh, come. I was only teasing. I think it's nice humans have these little holidays. Certainly beats the bee-policy us Xenos have had for the last few centuries._ "

"Bee policy?" Jake echoed as he knocked on the door politely. Footsteps came from inside, ready to let them in.

" _Work 'til you die; the bee policy. That's what I like to call it anyway._ "

"Yeouch. And you complain when I bust your ass during training." The door clicked open, revealing Jeica, who was quick to welcome them warmly.

"Make yourself comfortable, I'm just finishing up in the kitchen," Jeica called to them over her shoulder as she disappeared deeper into the house. Advena quickly shed her few articles of clothing now that she was in the heated home, huffing a sigh of relief when the warm air kissed her bare skin. Jake chuckled at her and slid off his coat, slinging it upon the coat rack in a much more dignified manner than Advena's small heap on the floor. Before they could make their way to the living room, the door swung open once more, giving them both a quick blast of cold air, before being cut off once more with a soft _click._ Tyler stepped inside with Sal close on his heels, giving a dramatic 'brr' as he placed two carefully-wrapped presents on the ground and shrugged off his coat.

"Hiya," he mumbled as he retrieved one of the gifts. "Thought that in the spirit of Christmas, now would be as good a time as any to give you this," Tyler stated as he pressed it into Advena's hands. She blushed gratefully as she accepted the small package and clutched it close to her chest.

" _Oh, you shouldn't have,_ " she gushed.

"I know, I know, we're too old for Christmas presents, but I was gonna give it to you anyway, and thought, hey, why not get a little festive." Advena chuckled and the four of them found a comfy place to sit in the living room.

"Who was the other one for?" Jake inquired curiously, jerking a thumb back in the direction of the front door.

"Hm? Oh, that's for another friend of mine," Tyler answered dismissively.

"Wait, you have other friends?" Jake exclaimed. "Well damn, out of all of us, _Tyler_ is the one with other friends."

"Uh, I have other friends," Jeica put in, brow furrowing in confusion as she popped out of the kitchen to cast a glance at Jake. "Just not really the type you'd want to hang out with on Christmas. Are you saying that _you_ don't have other friends?"

"Well, I mean, 'Vena and I…" Jake trailed off as he felt Advena's emotions shift to a pang of guilt. "Oh god, you too, huh?"

" _Well, I mean, there are a few Xenos from the station who I hang out with and go hunting with occasionally…_ " Advena admitted carefully, avoiding looking into Jake's eyes.

"I mean, sure I have a couple of _acquaintances_ , but… damn, really? Only me? Mo'?" Mozart gently shook his head, blushing slightly. "Damn, I have to step up my game. Go bowling or something. Do we have a bowling alley here?" Jake took Tyler's eye roll as a 'no' and smirked as he flopped back in his seat.

"Mo', give me a hand in here, will ya?" Jeica called softly, her Xenomorph immediately jumping up and trotting into the kitchen.

"Hey, maybe we should give our Xenos a taster of the Christmas spirit," Jake suggested, "like, a good old classic Christmas story. Know any good ones?" Tyler snickered and leaned forward in his seat.

"Oh yeah, I have a great one. It's called 'the Matchstick Girl' or something."

"Huh, haven't heard that one before," Jake admitted. "Well, you've piqued my interest, go ahead."

"Basically, there's this little girl on a cold Christmas day, she's poor – oh, and her family beats her – and she was sent out by her father to sell matchsticks. But get this, she hadn't sold any matchsticks that night, and knew she'd be better off not returning home at all when she was empty-handed. So, she huddles up in an alleyway, shivering in the cold, and lights up a match to try to stay warm. Then she sees through the wall of the home before her a family having dinner. The match goes out, she lights another, sees another family around the fire having a good time, yada yada yada, then she hallucinates that she sees the ghost of her dead grandmother and freezes to death. The end."

"What?" Jake spluttered. "That's it? No heart-warming Saint Nicholas-ness or anything?"

"That's it," Tyler said simply.

"No way, you're bullshitting. That's not a real Christmas story."

"It is!" Tyler insisted whilst the Xenomorph simply watched the back-and-forth in confusion. "Trust me, you can even look it up."

"You know what, I totally will." And Jake did. He fished out his phone and quickly searched up 'matchstick girl Christmas story' on his browser. Sure enough he found a page detailing a story called 'The Little Match Girl', and a brief skimming of the summary revealed the truth in Tyler's words. "That's the stupidest Christmas story I've ever seen!" Jake cried when he'd put his phone down.

"Right?" Tyler agreed amusedly.

" _So Jesus Christ and a Little Match Girl both died because of Christmas? I thought this was supposed to be a happy holiday, not a celebration of mass death,_ " Advena remarked.

"Wait, what? Jesus didn't die on Christmas day. He was _born_ on Christmas."

" _Jake told me he died,_ " Advena explained, casting an accusatory glare at her lover.

"Whatever," Jake grumbled, "it's not as if any of it _actually_ happened."

"Amen to that," Tyler snorted.

"Food's ready!" Jeica informed them from the other room.

"Sweet, I'm dying for some of Mozart's world-famous cooking," Jake jibed as the four friends relinquished their seats on the sofa in favour of finding a seat in the dining room, where the table was adorned with steaming plates of whole roast chicken, vegetables, breads and spreads. "Hey, isn't the traditional meal goose?" Jake quizzed as he sat down.

"And you expect me to find a goose where?" Jeica shot back as she laid out some cutlery.

"Point taken." They then proceeded to pile up their plates with the hot food and generous helpings of gravy.

"Amazing as always, Mozart," Tyler complimented him after delighting in the first bite.

" _Actually, Jeica did most of the work this time,_ " Mo' told him proudly. While Tyler congratulated her, Jake and Advena quickly had a hushed conversation and began fidgeting in their corner of the table, until…

" _Excuse me,_ " Advena said politely, squeezing in-between Jeica and Mozart to grab a small pot of gravy. " _Great stuff, this gravy._ " She turned, and paused for a moment, her tail raised high in the air, dangling just above their heads. Jeica glanced up peevishly, ready to ask Advena what she was doing, before pausing as she spotted a small plant tied to her tail.

"No way!" she exclaimed.

"Well well well, looks like two star-crossed lovers beneath the mistletoe to me!" Jake laughed.

"Did you seriously ship this tiny plant all the way over here from Earth just for the sake of a little gag?" Jeica grumbled with a scowl, unsure of whether to be mortified or impressed.

"You know the rules; you two have to kiss now." Advena shook her tail for emphasis while Mozart simply stared at Jeica in shock, and she could just imagine him with a pair of wide, innocent puppy-dog eyes.

" _Is that true?_ " he asked.

"It's not rules, it's just some silly tradition –"

" _Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!_ " Advena began chanting. Jeica scoffed at her, but eventually caved in after Jake joined in.

"Alright, alright!" she yielded. She cupped Mozart's cheeks gently, eliciting an unconscious purr from the Xeno, leaned in, and gave him a light peck on his dome. "There."

"Boo!" Jake yelled, giving her a thumbs-down. "Boo I say! You call _that_ a kiss? Boo!"

"Oh boo yourself!" Jeica snapped in pretend anger. "You can sit back down now, Advena." Advena did as she was told and eagerly began digging into her meal, and the humans slipped their conversation into telepathy due to their mouths being occupied with the delicious meal.

" _The town looks very pretty with all the lights and decorations,_ " Sal commented, " _but it does seem like a waste of effort, putting it all up only to take it down a day or two later._ "

" _I think you've been spending too much time around Tyler,_ " Jake snickered, referring to the analytical, detached nature of his observation. " _It's just a fun thing to do, and as you say, it looks damn good while it's all up._ "

" _It's kinda like building a sandcastle,_ " Jeica added thoughtfully. " _Like, you know it's gonna be gone soon, but it's still nice to have made something special for a little while. Maybe not having it around for long makes it so much easier to appreciate._ "

" _But hey, questioning societal norms is a good sign, Sal. It shows intelligence,_ " Tyler praised him. " _Very hot._ " Sal blushed slightly and grinned, pushing his plate away politely to show he was done.

" _Yeah? Well I started a rebellion against a society. How hot does that make me?_ " Jake asked slyly.

" _Don't give yourself so much credit,_ " Tyler scoffed. " _You joined the Resistance, yes, but you sure as hell didn't start it._

" _Well, I mean, I may not have started_ the _rebellion, but I started_ a _rebellion,_ " Jake elaborated, also finishing up. The other four followed soon after, and with the whole lot helping, tidying up took no time at all.

"So, what did our good scientist get you?" Jeica inquired of Advena as they sat down in the living room. The alien looked confused for a second, before suddenly remembering the gift Tyler had given her.

" _Oh, right! Um, am I supposed to open it now, or under a tree or something…?_ "

"Just open it, 'Vena," Jake laughed. Advena made extra sure by casting Tyler a quick glance, who nodded her the go-ahead, and carefully ran her claws along the brightly-coloured packaging on the small box, peeling it away delicately to reveal the cardboard beneath. After she excruciatingly-carefully opened the flaps of the box, she pulled out a small Lexer gaming controller, modified to be wider and have larger spaces between the buttons for a certain species which had long, bony fingers. Advena tested it in her grip, and found her hands wrapped perfectly around it, the comfort making her smile warmly.

" _This is… perfect. Thank you Tyler,_ " she gushed, twisting the object this way and that to get a better look at the lovingly-smooth seams where it had been put together.

"Well, I figured it would be much easier for you if I modified a controller specifically for you, so you wouldn't have to cram a tiny little controller into your big hands," Tyler explained modestly, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

" _That's really sweet of you. Hey, maybe we can test it out on some Christmas-y games!_ " she suggested brightly. Tyler chuckled at her opportunist attitude and rubbed her dome fondly.

"Not tonight, 'Vee," he told her regretfully. "I've got that other friend to visit, remember? But we'll certainly try it out together soon." Advena pouted, but didn't have time to give a response, as Mozart leapt up from his seat excitably.

" _Oh! I have a gift to give too!_ " he exclaimed suddenly, racing off to retrieve it from where he'd hidden it. Jake suppressed a groan of apprehension as this was probably not going to go too well – either he or Mozart was going to get humiliated. But what happened and what he was expecting were vastly different. Mozart returned with a tiny jewellery box clasped in his hands, got down to one knee to bring himself to Jeica's height, and presented the box to her. A quick glance around the room assured Jake that everyone was frozen in shock, bar Advena and himself who were suddenly realising that this was gonna be good.

"M-Mozart?" Jeica stammered, finally finding her voice.

" _Oh, right,_ " Mozart realised, probably gaining the urge to slap his head at his own stupidity. " _I'm sorry I didn't wrap it or anything; I didn't realise I was supposed to do that… but here, this is to show how much I appreciate you._ " Mozart opened the little box for her, revealing a small chrome ring embedded with dozens of tiny little sapphire blue crystals. Jake had his face buried in his hands, fingers parted slightly so he could still see the spectacle, trying desperately not to laugh, while Advena was tensed, tail wrapped around her jaw and head while vibrations racked her body. She had picked up from Jake's mind what was going on, and boy was it priceless.

"Mozart," Jeica began softly, giving her friends a nervous glance, "you're a sweet guy, but I don't think we're quite ready for that…" Mozart looked heartbroken as she placed her hands on the box and gently pushed it down, gazing into his eyeless face sympathetically.

" _I… I am not allowed to give you gifts?_ " Mozart asked sullenly. Jeica peered at his posture suspiciously as realisation finally began to dawn on her.

"Mozart, what do you think a ring is?" she demanded.

" _A pretty piece of jewellery?_ " Jeica sighed in relief, her shoulders slumping.

"Oh, oh wow," she muttered, falling back into her seat in relief. Finally, Jake and Advena couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. Even Tyler and Sal were snickering with massive grins on their faces. "Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious, I know." She huffed and accepted the Xeno's gift, slipping it over her left middle finger and offering her Bonded an apologetic smile. "Jesus, Mo', you nearly gave me a heart attack. It's lovely, thank you." Now Mozart was staring blankly at her, confused to no end at the sudden change of events.

" _Humans use rings for marriage proposals,_ " Sal explained finally, feeling pity for the befuddled alien. Mozart jerked upwards, as if he'd been zapped, and immediately began babbling apologies. Jeica quickly silenced him by pulling him into a hug.

"Shh, it's okay Mo'," she soothed him amusedly. Over her shoulder, Mozart caught sight of Jake, who grimaced and gave an apologetic shrug. He huffed in annoyance, but left it at that, thankfully not telling Jeica about their conversation.

"Anyway, I've got to head off for a bit," Tyler announced, rising from the couch and stretching dramatically. "Thanks for dinner – and the entertainment," he added with a wink. Jeica gave him a blinged-out middle finger as he laughed his way to the front door. "You coming to see Bill too, Sal?"

" _Of course_ ," Sal scoffed. As if there was an alternative; where Tyler went, he went. The duo put on their warm clothes, fetched the present, then gave one final wave and left into the cold night.

"So, we've failed pretty miserably in showing the Xenos the Christmas spirit," Jake decided. Jeica giggled at him, before suggesting:

"Well, I'm sure there's some Christmas movies on the TV." True to her word, she turned the living room's modest TV on, and scrolled through the movie list, coming across a whole section full of Christmas specials. "Here; guests choose." She tossed the remote to Jake, who promptly handed it over to Advena.

"Find one you think you'll find interesting," he instructed her, laying back as he awaited her verdict. Advena spent a good five minutes flicking through the expansive list, until finally:

" _Ah! This one looks good!_ " she exclaimed, referring to the movie on screen. Jake audibly groaned with just one glimpse at the cover art, and it only got worse with the title. A very forced pun, the film 'Secret Santa' featured a man on the cover running from an explosion, which sent burning presents and flaming dollar notes flying everywhere, a gun in his hand and a Santa costume slipping down at the neck to reveal a smart tuxedo underneath. It was some spy flick with overzealous explosions, ridiculous plots and a laughably out of place Christmas theme which was never made with the intent of being taken seriously.

"I think you're _really_ getting the wrong idea about Christmas here," Jake quipped. But Advena was nothing if not stubborn, and refused to be moved to a classic. Thus, the four friends settled down for one hell of a cheesy movie.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **A/N: And my gift to you, dear readers, is a nice little lemon. Merry Christmas my friends!  
(Sexual content ahead, if you are underage or don't like interspecies pr0n read no further blah blah blah)**

Jake flung off his heavy coat as he and Advena stepped through the front door into their home, sighing gratefully at the warm air which washed over them. Advena likewise stripped herself of her outside gear and plopped herself onto the couch, staring at her boyfriend expectantly.

"I can feel when you're thinking something mischievous," Jake reminded her as he hung their winter gear on the coat rack.

" _Welllll, I was thinking about a little Christmas present I wanted to give to you._ "

"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"

" _Take off your clothes and you'll find out._ " Jake chuckled at his alien lover's antics, and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor along with his pants and undergarments. Advena growled lustily and pushed Jake down onto their couch so he was sitting dumbly with his legs spread apart.

"Straight to your favourite position, ay?" he remarked with a smirk, but Advena shook her head.

" _Tonight, we're going to try something a bit different._ " Advena abandoned her predatorial stance of looming above him and dropped to her knees, flashing him a seductive smile. " _But you're gonna have to trust me._ " Jake took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Yeah, okay. I can manage that." Advena purred reassuringly, reaching out a soft, smooth hand which she gently wrapped around his semi-erect member, giving it a few pumps to get him going. Jake let out a shaky breath as his muscles tensed, his shaft rapidly hardening in his exotic girlfriend's grasp. She kept up her steady stroking until a dollop of precum oozed out of his tip, by which time Jake had his head tilted back, resting on the couch's backrest, and his eyes squeezed shut. She relinquished her hold with a satisfied grin and shuffled closer, her warm breath now rolling over his sensitive head in waves. Jake squirmed a little in his seat, his tantalising cock bouncing with the movements, and Advena leaned in closer. She extended her tube-like tongue and gently ran the moist pillar of flesh up Jake's length, making him moan in delight.

Being mindful of her teeth, Advena carefully placed Jake's manhood inside her maw, the heat radiating from her mouth making Jake shiver ecstatically. She kept running her tongue along his length, tasting his fluids as she coated him in her thick saliva. She relished in the salty, tangy taste, and pulled back slightly, letting half of Jake's length slip back into the relatively-cool air. Jake almost cracked an eye open, but a sudden tightness encircled his cock's head, squeezing him in such a way that had him arching his back with a pleasured yelp. Advena drew her jaws away so Jake could stare down at her enrapturing inner maw sliding down his shaft, firmly squeezing everything it swallowed in a tight, moist sleeve.

Jake shuddered, letting out another moan when the little set of jaws bumped against his base, and he felt Advena's tongue contract, giving his length another firm squeeze. Advena stared Jake directly in the eyes as she slid her mouth back over her tongue, taking the organ back without removing a centimetre from Jake's delicious cock, adding the intense heat back into the sea of sensations he could feel. She tilted her head slightly, her tongue following the movement and sliding around Jake's length in such a way that had him jerking his hips in pleasure, but much to his disdain, he found that the Advena's nimble tongue followed his movements as well, not giving him any of the friction he desired. He groaned as he realised even during this act, she was in complete control of the situation, and went limp on the couch, panting as the intense sensations began to die down.

Then Advena began moving again. She dragged her tongue back into her maw, rubbing along Jake's length with its oddly-textured flesh, before ever-so-slowly sliding it back down again. Squeezing tightly with suction only her kind could achieve, she set a steady pace of dragging her tubular tongue up and down Jake's shaft, making him moan and squirm as the euphoric sensations shook him to his core, unable to do anything but place his hands on her dome to steady himself. Advena placed a hand on Jake's crotch, balancing herself as well as allowing herself to fondle Jake's heavy balls with her thumbs, and sent her other hand to her nethers, the delightful feeling of Jake's pleasure too much for her to handle.

As she began pumping two fingers into herself, her movements became more erratic, her tongue gliding up and down Jake's slick length faster and faster, her hot breath coming short and fast, the odd pulsating heat and the tight friction making Jake moan and try to buck his hips, only to be held in place by Advena's hand. Jake found himself doubled over his lover, hugging her elongated head for dear life as the pleasure of her odd tongue squeezing and sliding up and down his shaft took over, making him quake and tense up, quickly approaching his climax. Advena was pumping her fingers faster now, nearing her peak too as their pleasures became one. Advena felt Jake clench up, a long moan escaping his lips as his thick maleness throbbed and unleashed his load into Advena's waiting inner mouth. He shuddered and let out husky breaths as he enjoyed his orgasm, his manhood pulsing and spurting his seed in Advena's belly as her tongue wrung out everything he had to offer with slick, powerful contractions and her hand gently caressed his spunk-makers.

Once he had been sucked dry, she slowly withdrew, her tight tongue leaving his shaft wet, but clean, and fell back, thrusting her fingers into herself erratically to push herself over the edge too. Jake surprised her by flopping down atop her, and pulling her hand away. She groaned in frustration, but was cut short by a soft pair of lips pressing against her own and a warmer, softer pair of fingers entering her. The intimate kiss stifled Advena's whimper of delight as Jake's much more satisfying hand brought her over the edge in a few swift strokes, her inner walls clenching around his digits while she panted and cooed quietly, pulling out of their kiss so she could wrap herself around him in an exotic embrace, as well as keeping his arm in place so he couldn't pull his fingers out until she had rode the waves of her orgasm to the end. Jake placed another loving kiss on her dome this time as they lay there, bathing in their post-coital warmth.

" _Merry Christmas, Jake,_ " Advena slurred suddenly.

"Merry Christmas, 'Vena," Jake chuckled.


	4. Anxiety

**Apologies for the very late chapter, but there was much writer's block to overcome, and many days spent feeling like a potato. Hopefully the next chapter won't take two months to get out, but for now, enjoy eleven thousand words of exposition (chapters will get more exciting soon, I promise).**

His heart was racing, his breathing coming short as he kept his eyes clenched shut.

"Come on," he urged himself, his voice barely a whisper under his breath. "It's not that bad." A deep, shuddering inhale, and a whoosh of released air. He opened his eyes, and was met with the near-darkness. His nerves refused to settle despite how calm he willed himself to be. Thick, hard resin coated every surface in sight, bar a bed and set of closet doors. The solitary light fixture had been carelessly smeared over, likely on accident, meaning that its comforting rays were dimmed by the viscous, yet surprisingly-transparent substance.

He took slow, even breaths as he gazed around himself, trying to absorb the intricacies and swirling patterns which he had no clue as to whether they were intentional or not. Ripples which made the walls look like a frozen waterfall merged into swirls and spirals, spiny rib-like patterns and structures which were akin to fossils embedded into the walls.

Movement. In the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but gasp sharply and whip his head in its direction. Nothing in sight. Just the light playing tricks on him. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him no, that was never the case. That's just what they wanted you to think. A shiver ran down his spine, and he found himself with his eyes closed again. If anyone were to walk in on him, it would look like he was meditating as he sat cross-legged in the centre of the room, controlling his breathing and keeping his eyes shut to stave off the shadows which lurked in every corner, driving fear into even the most hardened of souls. "See?" he muttered to himself. "Fine. Everything's fine. Resin can't hurt you."

A few minutes passed, and he was suddenly aware that he probably should have opened his eyes by now for another try. It just felt so comforting having them closed, shutting off all the unsightly goo that had ruined or ended thousands, perhaps even millions, of lives. Maybe even more, nobody could be sure. A soft _squelch_ demanded his attention, and his eyes snapped open once more, heart rate reaching a crescendo at the unexpected noise. He suppressed the urge to turn, and instead held a furious debate in his head, desperately trying to convince himself he hadn't heard anything. Another _squelch_ , closer, behind him. It was counter-productive, but he squeezed his eyes shut again, before realising he couldn't deny the noise's existence anymore. A wave of hot air hit the back of his neck, and he leapt to his feet, backing up. A pitch black doorway met his gaze, but not another living creature could be seen.

He continued turning slowly, scanning the room – including the ceiling, unlike most other idiots who fell prey to deadly alien creatures – and jerked to a halt, his breath hitching. A human body, dangling limp, plastered to the wall by thick strips, hole punched straight through their chest. He tried to move away, to backpedal, to do anything except stare in horror, but found himself unable to move.

Literally. Panicking, he glanced around himself, desperately tugging at his feet as the resin seeped from the ground and encased his ankles, slowly creeping its way up his body. His gaze jerked towards the dark doorway as he suddenly felt an overpowering _presence_ beyond it, in the all-encompassing darkness. He needed to run, he needed to get the hell out of here, but the resin kept crawling up his body, encasing him, stopping him from moving. The presence was getting closer, becoming more powerful, striking greater and greater fear into the human's mind. Just when it reached the doorway, barely out of sight, he woke up.

Jake bolted upright, drenched in sweat and shaking fearfully. He quickly brought his legs about himself and scrambled out the door, away from the suffocating atmosphere the resin brought. He leaned against the bedroom door, panting off the stress in the welcoming light of his living room. He must have fallen asleep while he was squeezing his eyes shut like a dumbass, he reasoned. And it was all because of those damned nightmares, keeping him up at night while his mind was vulnerable, lacking the security blanket of Advena's comforting presence.

He decided to have a shower, change into his PT uniform, and head down to the training arena to do some exercise. However, on his way out, he nabbed his phone and had a change of plans. Three new messages from an impatient Tyler awaited him.

 _0747  
Tyler: Something came up, need to talk. Meet me at Carl's Café in the next fifteen minutes.  
0811  
Tyler: Hurry the hell up.  
0820  
Tyler: Fuck it. If you ever decide to get your lazy ass out of bed and do anything meaningful with your sad life, I'll be with Jeica, Bunker 03, Comms Centre._

Jake checked the time and cursed under his breath; that had been half an hour ago. He quickly changed into his armour and set a brisk pace through town, towards bunker three in an effort to catch his friends before they finished with whatever this important business was.

He quickly jogged down the bustling concrete underground halls, having to ask directions a couple of times on the way over, as nobody seemed to have an absolute idea where the comms room was. But despite all odds, he finally found the place, having to perform a double-take at the sloppily-written sign plastered to the door. It seemed this room had very recently been repurposed, which would explain why it was so hard to get directions to. Jake slipped inside, the door swishing aside almost silently, so quiet that the occupants of the room didn't notice his entry.

"I said _one_ pin, Jeica. This is a nine pin."

"What the hell do you mean? They're all one pin!"

"Jeica, do you know what a pin is?"

"Yeah, it's the little sticky-outy thing on the end of the cable."

"What? No. No, that's the housing. The pins are inside. Turn the cable so you're looking into it. See the little metal prongs inside? _Those_ are pins."

"Ohhh. Okay. I've got a six pin here."

"Then put it down for God's sake. I want a one pin." Jake stepped around a few metal shelving units, which consisted of four sleek steel poles supporting several sheets of thin metal as the shelves, allowing easy access to the messes of wires and electrical equipment stored upon them. They looked like server racks, if he had to guess, and they were in complete disarray.

"Okay, got a one pin here," Jeica reported. Jake spotted her holding out a lengthy cable to Tyler, who was lying on his back, upper half hidden from view by a cluttered desk with a small computer atop it. Coils of wires stuck out of the computer and spilled onto the floor, down where Tyler's head and hands were hard at work, appearing only to accept the offered cable before returning to the task at hand.

"Make sure to keep all the ones I'm plugging in aside; we don't want them to get mixed in with the spare stuff," Tyler advised her, voice slightly muffled by his position. He suddenly pushed himself out from underneath the desk with an "ugh" of disapproval. "No Sal. You're – stop! You're going to break something! Rotate the – okay, let me." Tyler blinked the disorientation from his eyes and suddenly noticed Jake's presence, staring at the duo in bemusement.

"Ah, hello Jacob. Had some trouble getting out of bed, did we?" Tyler asked in a strangely forced tone.

" _About bloody time. Jesus, I thought you soldiers were supposed to be all prompt and timely and shit,_ " Tyler grumbled telepathically. Noticing his confusion, 'Tyler' pointed towards the ceiling, where Sal was dangling haphazardly, one arm free in order to fuss with some wires which led into the roof, most likely through the ground beyond and onto the surface. With some trouble, Jake suddenly realised they had body-swapped. That would explain the strained way Tyler's body was speaking, as the Xeno probably wasn't fully confident with human vocal control.

"I wasn't sleeping," Jake argued. "I was busy. Uh, had a… 'job' to do… for a friend."

" _Right, right. As you were then. Don't mind us, we're only fixing this colony's lack of basic encrypted communications. It's no wonder your soldiers abuse high-priority military equipment; there's no low-priority tech for the low-class to use. Pretty shitty thing to do, really. People want to talk to their families; tell them they're okay, but the only long-range communications are either a sure-fire way to get us found and killed due to vastly under-protected channels, or command priority lines. I swear, if I wasn't gay, people would be praising me as the second coming of Jesus; this trash heap of a colony is an absolute mess._ "

Sal's body paused for a second, running a critical eye over his handiwork. " _Alright, done_." And with barely a flutter of the eyelids to give it away, Tyler was back in his own body.

"How do you do that?" Jake demanded. "Switch so seamlessly, I mean. When Advena and I body-switch, we're stumbling around and almost collapsing."

"Maybe your stupidity clogs the link," Tyler quipped without missing a beat. Jake couldn't help but crack a grin, for once not frustrated with his friend's attitude; without his biting tone and snarky mannerisms, all that was left was friendly teasing, which was oddly comforting. Tyler's expression suddenly turned thoughtful as he picked up the 'one-pin' cable from the floor and plugged it into one of the server racks. Tinkering ensued, but that wasn't the cause for Tyler's wandering mind. "There's also some bad news, I'm afraid. Inevitable news, but frustrating, because there's a chance it could have been avoided, had a certain group of reckless rebels used a little foresight."

"Oh spare me the pleasantries," Jake drawled, rolling his eyes. Tyler cracked a small smirk despite the situation, cranking a wrench to secure the cable before speaking again.

"The Wey-Yu recovered Reveles Station's black box," he explained, still not taking his eyes off his machine as he took readings from its display. "I've been discreetly monitoring their chatter from my ship – er, _house_ – computer, and they're well aware of your rebel status. No survivors, fortunately, so whatever data they could pull from the box and monthly reports are all they have. On another note, I've also been monitoring outbound chatter from the colony, and stumbled across something, uh, interesting."

Tyler finally paused in his work to make eye contact, letting his arms flop to his sides, spanner and all. "Someone used a secure military channel to post some porn on the web, and tried to cover it up. Poorly."

"Excuse me?" Jake guffawed.

"Yeah, and not just your average porn either. One of your soldiers filmed herself doing a Xeno. I could have easily sniped it down before it got a single view, but I hesitated. The Corporation already knows we're out here, and they already know the Advena Project was a success in all areas except candidacy, so it wasn't exactly harming us by being out there. So I left it, and man has it blown up in the past few hours."

"Blown up?" Jake repeated, demanding elaboration.

"Yeah, I went to show Jeica the video so she could identify the soldier, and between then and this morning, it's gone viral. Massive debates as to whether it's genuine or not, hippies resurfacing with their pro-interspecial spiel and lots of horny peeps touching themselves shamelessly. This could honestly help the Xenos, as unlikely as that seems. It'll certainly make people think twice."

"You probably _should_ have sniped that video," Jake mused with a frown. "It's a small world here; soon everyone on the colony will know about her. She'll be humiliated." Tyler simply shrugged and turned back to his work, testing all the wires were properly secured so he could move on.

"The act is its own punishment. She knew what she was doing, she knows the risks – and let's not get into the fact that nobody here seems to _want_ my help except for like, five or six people."

"And what about tracing?" Jake demanded. "Can't the Wey-Yu trace the video back to here?" Tyler waved him off.

"As I said, she used a military channel. The first thing I did coming here was check over the comms, and they are – surprisingly – up to par. Which means the only way we could be traced is by visual clues in the video itself, which I've already searched for. Jeica don't touch that!"

"You didn't plug it in properly!" Jeica protested.

"That's because we do that later. If we plug it in now, we could fry the system. I only put it there so we knew where it went." Jeica scoffed and carefully put the cable back where she'd found it, and Tyler gave a satisfied nod at his handiwork on the device he had been tinkering with. "That does it for basic functions. We just need to add in the encryption system, net capability, and then hook it up to the dish."

Jeica grunted as she hoisted herself up onto a sealed metal crate, undoubtedly full of parts they would need later, and took an uncomfortable seat upon it.

"While we're all here, and in good moods," Jeica began, shooting a glare at Tyler at the last part, "there's something I'd like to discuss. Our first mission as members of the Resistance."

"There's still much to do before we should even be considering that," Tyler pointed out sceptically, pulling a box off one of the shelving units and turning it over in his hands. "Not least of all the initiation."

"The initiation?" Jeica echoed with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, every new member has to be screened, interviewed, tested then assigned to a faction. They're not really used to dealing with hundreds of new arrivals all at once, usually a dozen is about as high as it gets."

"That would take a very long time," Jake agreed, especially considering the limited amount of manpower the Resistance had at their disposal.

"What was that about factions?" Jeica demanded, rewinding them a bit, and ignoring Jake completely.

"Factions," Tyler stated. "They would be equivalent to… a company, or even a battalion, and are headed by lieutenants, because military ranking systems make some peoples' heads hurt. Silly really, if you ask me. You know they only have a select few ranks, right? They have private: your average grunt, corporal: leader of a fireteam, sergeant: leader of operations, lieutenant: leader of sergeants, and general: leader of lieutenants. Each lieutenant has a banner and faction name to identify them, and most privates have at least some say in which faction they join, as different lieutenants have different methods of leadership."

"Well, I gotta hand it to the Resistance; that's a lot more organised than most rebellions. It's probably how they've lasted so long," Jake commented. "Do ex-military members keep their ranks?"

"Do they!" Tyler scoffed. "Most get promoted to leadership roles, as even a private seems like a sergeant when pitted next to a farmer with a shotgun. I imagine the Resistance is beyond pleased with you lot arriving, with a decently-outfitted ship to boot, no less. And Jeica here is the nice, diamond-encrusted icing on the cake. High-ranking, _special ops_ veteran soldier? It's Christmas come early for the Resistance."

"I take it not many soldiers sign up for the Resistance?" Jake hazarded, earning himself an eye roll from the scientist, as if that should have been blatantly obvious.

"Well, duh. People join the military to _fight_ rebels, that's kind of the whole point of the military's existence right now. These people hate rebels so much they would put their life on the line to end them. The only reason you got so many people to follow you is because you weren't acting under a group; most of these people probably thought you were going to start your own thing, separate from the terrorists who plague our society or whatever. That and some of these people joined _after_ I told them they could either do so or explode with their ship. That's not exactly an impressive or long-term incentive to stay."

"You think we're going to lose all of our fighting force?" Jeica asked hesitantly.

"No, nothing that dramatic. You'll keep at least some – a quarter, more depending on how you handle things. For now, enjoy the peace. Nobody's really sure exactly what's going on, what with the Xenos and the coup and everything. People are too confused to up and leave at the moment, but if you want to do anything meaningful, you're going to have to break it to them at some point. Just, have a plan on how to do it first."

Tyler turned away and hunched over the small laptop which was set up on a metal desk nearby, frowning and muttering to himself as he mulled over the information on the screen. The two humans knew better than to interrupt him, and so it was a couple of minutes later when he next spoke. "All tangents aside, the initiation. Parker will be able to vouch for you, and you'll no doubt pass their screening, so you'll have to make a choice: lieutenant, or general. As a general, you won't have any direct command over people, you'll be directing efforts and colonies from a safe location – that is to say, not here; you'll have to leave in favour of more secure housing. You'd have to retire from your military career and become somewhat of a paper-pusher. A crucial job, but one which you despise, yes?"

"You got that right," Jeica confirmed with a steely nod.

"Being a lieutenant would pretty much comprise of what you're already doing; advising other efforts, communicating with other lieutenants and organising missions. Joining in on operations is discouraged, but nobody except a general can tell you not to. Lieutenants generally command a colony, too, so you'll also have the responsibility of the local civilian workforce. Just don't think that gives you any power over me," Tyler added as an afterthought, tapping a few keys on the laptop to signal he was done.

"But you _would_ have to listen to me," Jeica informed him with a sly smirk, teasingly. "Unless you want to be kicked out of the Resistance." Tyler shot her smug grin right back at her, not even gracing her by fully turning around as he opted to cast the expression over his shoulder.

"I'm what you call a rogue element," he explained. "I don't want to be here, but you need me to be here. I don't _have_ to join the Resistance because you'll all worship my feet in order to get me to get shit done for you. You can certainly make suggestions, but your orders don't mean diddly-squat in the grand scheme of things. I'm my own man, so you can either let me do my thing, or watch me leave."

Jeica crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him, a clear expression of annoyance written across her face, which caused Tyler to laugh and return to his work. "And you're not denying it, so you know it's true. Good. I can work with that. Now, being the nice rogue element I am, I can take care of all the paperwork, so all you have to do is deal with that dirtbag Parker and put in the appeal to the generals."

"Is that actually a thing?" Jake inquired curiously. "A rogue element I mean. Or are you just being you again?"

"There's a folder on the table over there, you see it?" Tyler demanded as he took a seat before the laptop.

"Yeah, I see it. Is this one of those rogue element things?"

"No idiot, that's a DNS gateway reference sheet. Give it here." Jake sighed and handed the scientist the cardboard folder and watched as Tyler fished out the aforementioned piece of paper. He pulled up a multitude of dialogue boxes on the screen and placed the paper upright alongside the computer so he could glance between the two. As he continued his work, he spoke up again. "And yes, rogue elements are real things – usually used by big corporations to do shady business. Rogue elements are people like specialty engineers, mercenaries, hackers, smugglers and freelance scientists such as myself. Basically they'll work for you so long as you give them what they want, namely money, but they're not interested in long-term employment or loyalty. I can't speak for all my freelancing friends out there, but I myself find the strings attached approach to be irritating, to say the least. Too many restrictions, rules, preferences and idiots to deal with. People end up getting in my way and acting as if I should do things I don't believe are right simply because they told me to."

"Well, it's certainly nice to have you cooperating for a change," Jeica admitted. "You're a surprisingly deep well of information. But we have a lot to do. Jacob, if you're going to be a sergeant, or leader of operations, serving under me, you're going to need a bit more leadership experience under your belt. Here, I've got a little to-do list; get all these jobs done and report back to me." Jeica held out a slip of paper to the sergeant in question, and Jake grudgingly accepted the offered list.

"Yes ma'am," he sighed. He made awkward eye contact with her for a moment, and she slowly raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. "Oh, you mean now? But, don't you need my –"

"No," Tyler dismissed him, waving him off with one arm. "I only wanted you to help me move all the equipment in here, _which you slept through_. Having you around any longer would only distract me, as I doubt anyone on this rock knows the first thing about this equipment but me." He graced Jeica with a half-turn to face her. "And you can go ahead and talk to Parker; I have things covered here."

"Sure thing 'Mister Cool Rogue Element Little Junior Badass of the Resistance'," Jeica drawled sarcastically, sliding off of her perch and stretching. "I was getting sick of this dingy room anyway. Not that being around Parker is much of an improvement." Jake watched her saunter out of the room and held the slip of paper up before himself.

 _Investigate strange Xeno – Visit Marlene for info  
Find out who's growing Cloud-9, arrest them. Known buyers: Pvt. Yamu, Cpl. Karm, Pvt. Leen  
Talk to Elder Verah about potential Hive locations  
Find out who amateur pornstar is, sort them out  
Buy more Jerky_

Jake sighed, long and slow, his face sinking into his palm. He was certain that Jeica had just dumped her chores on him under the pretence of training. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but the scrawled notes were reminders rather than instructions, leaving many details to be desired. For example, he had no idea who Marlene or Elder Verah were, and he wasn't familiar enough with the local militia to identify the woman in the video, nor could he identify the Cloud-9 buyers.

Speaking of which, he had no idea where the Cloud-9 could have even come from. As far as he knew, the alien drug couldn't grow on planets such as the one he was on. He glanced up for a moment, realising he had a scientist and a techie, all in one, right in front of him.

"Hey Tyler, what would it take to grow some Cloud-9 here?" he asked hesitantly.

"Jacob, I had no idea," Tyler guffawed in mock-horror.

"Not for me asshat, someone's growing it and I need something to narrow my search down."

"Normally I would say I had no idea just so I could watch you scamper around," Tyler confessed, "but I hate narcotics, so I'll throw you a bone on this one. Cloud-9 is refined from a plant which is native to acidic, low-atmosphere planets. Hydrochloric acid is a fan-favourite for fertilising the soil, so you could start by tracking down any shipments of that. There'll also be U.V. lamps in operation, and protein paste is often used to mimic their bug-based diet. Other than that, depending on the size of the operation, it could be made in someone's basement or a massive greenhouse, so there's not really much help to be found in terms of location."

"Thanks. Guess I'm off to the spaceport to view some cargo manifests," Jake announced.

"Well, hurry up and do it already then," Tyler barked, keeping up his hot streak of neglecting common conversational courtesy and keeping his eyes on his work. "No need to make a song and dance of it." Jake rolled his eyes at the sass and merely strode out the door, giving the to-do list a reaffirming glance as he did so. There's no way any of the soldiers who had come in with him had set up a drug cartel in such a small amount of time, which meant it was run by colonists who he had no jurisdiction over. With that in mind, he veered away from the bunker's exit and instead headed for the armoury, just in case. Picking out a standard pistol sidearm and slipping it into his hip holster, he deemed himself ready for worst-case scenario and made for the outside world. Even with all the training and experience on his side, he still found himself craving Advena's presence, as no idiot would dare pick a fight with him _and_ his alien companion.

Shaking off the feeling, he reassured himself by deciding it was good to keep up the habit of operating solo, as he may not always have Advena with him to back him up. They could end up parting ways to tackle multiple objectives, or perhaps he could end up in a mission which demanded he mingle with a crowd, which Advena would be unable to do.

Soon enough, he found himself stepping through the automatic glass doors of the spaceport's post office. The attendant was resting with her feet up on the desk, face buried behind a space-race magazine. He cleared his throat to gain her attention, as she was far too engrossed with her reading.

"Excuse me ma'am," he implored politely. The glossy paper flopped down to reveal a rather young woman who couldn't be over nineteen. "I need to see the cargo manifest."

"You need permission from the boss for that," she told him nonchalantly.

"Lieutenant Smith sent me."

"Lieutenant Smith isn't in charge here. Sorry, can't help you." And with that, she flicked her magazine back up with an effortless twitch of her hands.

"It's kinda important," Jake insisted, stepping closer to the desk.

"So's keeping my job. There's nothing I can do for you buddy."

"Look," Jake growled, beginning to get annoyed, "I –" He was cut off when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket, short and repeated. Someone was calling him, and nobody knew his number bar his friends and important contacts. "I have to take this." He fished out the ringing device, keeping half an eye on the attendant at all times so as to maintain his irritated glare, and hit the answer button without even checking the ID. "Y'ello?"

"Hey Jake, you still at the spaceport?" Tyler asked from the other end. "I forgot to pick up a package this morning. Thought you might as well fetch it while you're out there."

"Yeah, I'm still here. The manifest was a bust; attendant won't budge. Any other ideas on how to track down this _dangerous drug lord_ who's sullying this colony's good people?" Jake asked, making sure to redouble his glaring efforts with every stressed word, but the attendant remained unmoved. An irritated sigh through the receiver, and Jake knew it was because Tyler cared more about his package than the comparatively-trivial affairs of the colony.

"If you know any names of buyers, you could always squeeze them for info and do a good old-fashioned set-up; pose as a buyer or something, catch the seller, find out who's supplying them."

"Sounds like a job for a policeman. Does this place even have policemen?"

"I doubt it. A place this size probably has a security team of about twelve members, at most. Though considering this is a Resistance stronghold, it's more likely the colonists themselves will pick up arms should the need to defend their home arise. So no, no police force to back you up here. Fortunately, that means you don't need a warrant to storm any buildings. Also, you have an entire battalion of recently-arrived ex-Weyland soldiers on your side. So, you know, don't forget about that."

"Ah, good idea. Thanks Tyler, you're a lifesaver."

"Hey! I'm not doing this for free! Bring me that damned package, okay?" Tyler's voice was replaced by the dial tone as the young scientist abruptly hung up. He would need a little time to think on his next move, but in the meantime, he could probably track down Elder Verah through the Xenos who milled about through the small colony. But first…

"Uh, yeah, I need to pick up one package for a Mister Tyler Doelle?"

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

" _Uh, this is most strange…_ " Elder Verah hissed uncertainly. " _I was expecting you to be more… female. Unless, are you a trendgender?_ "

"Transgender," Jake corrected her with a weary sigh, "and no, I'm a dude."

" _Strange… You_ are _Lieutenant Smith, are you not?_ "

"No, I'm her lackey, Sergeant Jacob Harlor, at your service. She says you wanted to speak about some potential Hive locations?"

" _Indeed. I was hoping for a human of a more prestigious rank, but so be it. I have a few ideas as to where a good home for us would be, and find myself in need of some outsider input. Right this way._ " Jake took a moment to stand and stare in awe at the massive Praetorian as she turned slowly. He was glad for the space they had on the outskirts of town, as the ten-foot-tall tower of muscle and spines screamed accident-prone. However, Verah handled herself with as much grace as any other Xenomorph he'd seen, albeit slower, surprising him greatly. Her huge tail that could undoubtedly take out a small truck swept powerfully across the ground, kicking up dust clouds as she completed her turn, her massive, crested head turning to cast a glance at her tiny human companion to ensure he was ready to follow. " _Do not fret about keeping up with me; I have to pick a careful pace through the forest in order to preserve the trees._ "

Jake couldn't help but snort amusedly at the mental image of her accidentally swaying her hips midway through her gait and smacking a tree halfway across the forest, though he supposed due to her subspecies' nature, it was far more likely she was referring to the fact that her only speed move was a head-on charge which would turn her head into a miniature bulldozer. Or maybe a full-sized bulldozer; she _was_ pretty big.

They began their trek, and Jake found himself surprised yet again when Verah's steps didn't shake the planet to its very core. Other than the _whump_ of noise which came from every step, her kind's natural grace kept her light enough on her feet not to create tremors in the soil. Though he supposed if she really wanted to, she could do a bit of stomping and scare the crap out of anything in a hundred-mile radius.

As they walked, Jake found himself wondering what it would be like to be a Host to one of the intimidating creatures. And inevitably, he wondered how in the hell you'd have sex with something like that. Would she even feel it? One thing was for certain; he sure didn't envy the guy who was going to be Bonded to the Queen, if they ever found a suitable candidate. Finally, Jake decided he might as well toss a couple of questions her way while they were still picking their way through the forest.

"Is it tough being so bi – uh, so high in stature?" he asked curiously. Verah let out a deep, rumbling, stuttering hiss of a chuckle at his mid-sentence slip-up.

" _There is no need to dance around the point. I am rather large, especially compared to such a little creature as yourself. To answer your question, however, yes, it is quite tough being so high in stature. Namely, I have trouble fitting into human structures. I spent most of the trip over here in the hangar, as it is one of the few rooms I can fit comfortably in. Now, thankfully, I can be outside. Though it is saddening to know I can never interact with humans as the others can._ "

"Can't you, um, what do you call it? Respawn? Hatch as a different Xenomorph?" Verah shook her head sadly.

" _It is rather difficult and time-consuming to encase a Praetorian in preparation for a 'respawn' as you so aptly put it. Not to mention that such an act would be selfish; Hives need Praetorians as their guards, protectors, overseers and back-up Queens. If everyone were to back away from the position in favour of fitting inside houses and having intercourse with humans, then there would be nobody to fill the role, and our Hive would suffer._ "

"Back-up Queens?" Jake echoed. "You mean you're fit for Queenliness?" Verah shook her mighty head grimly.

" _No. Some Praetorians are, but not all. Regardless of the fact that Praetorians need not Royal Jelly to transform into a Queen, I am unfit for the position._ "

"Damn, you got my hopes up. For a second there, I thought part of this new life was going to be easy – or not a complete nightmare at the very least." Verah chuckled again at that comment, slowing her powerful strides to sniff the air.

" _You are funny, Sergeant Jacob. I can see why Advena likes you._ "

"I hear that a lot," Jake admitted, "but it really doesn't seem that way right now."

" _Oh hush, she is just upset. Besides, she would have returned to you by now if not for Mozart's counsel._ "

"What? Why that sneaky little –"

" _Peace, Jacob. He is not wrong to advise her as such. Ever since you became a telepath Advena has been there, guiding, tampering. This is healthy enough if you are willing to form a Dependant Bond, but a couple in your line of work would not want such a thing, I think. Taking little breaks from one another over the next little while will fortify your minds as individuals, thus creating an Independent Bond, which you will find much use for._ "

"I would just like you to know, there are so many things about this telepathy business to remember, that my head hurts sometimes."

" _Such is life now,_ " Verah chortled. " _Perhaps it would assist you if I explained the terms. A Dependant Bond brings the two closer and makes them stronger when they are together. However, it also makes it hard to separate individual thought, and minds can become cluttered at times. It is also possible to develop crippling dependency, where having the Bond severed will have physical effects on the bodies of the Bonded._ " Jake remembered the feeling of desperation he had felt when Advena had first walked out on him, cutting off their Bond. With a grimace, he realised he could have been very close to such a stage before the argument. " _An Independent Bond, on the other hand, while less streamlined in terms of telepathic communications, will develop stronger mental defences in the individuals and will keep them from being harmed by negative side effects._ "

"Eh, still," Jake muttered, calm now, but still unenthused, "Mozart does seem to have a very low opinion of Advena and I."

" _He is scared of Advena, and has adopted a bit of Tyler's philosophy, such is why he is a pacifist now. Before meeting that odd human, Mozart was quite happy to slaughter anybody with ill intent. Much has changed over the years, and I have experienced it all, but nothing has had such an impact on us as you humans._ "

"Ah, so you're thinking some of Tyler's attitude has rubbed off on him?" Jake guessed. Verah graced him with a nod, and drew to a halt at the edge of a small crescent-shaped clearing. Across the sunny patch of grass stood the gaping and jagged entrance to a rocky cave.

" _This is my personal preference. It is close to the human Hive, surrounded by resources, almost pre-constructed for us and quite expansive. I believe all that is required is a coat of resin to make this a perfect Hive._ "

"It does seem very practical," Jake agreed.

" _Do you wish to view the interior?_ "

"No," Jake answered flatly, a little too quickly. Verah gave him an odd look, probably expecting some kind of explanation or excuse, but Jake merely fixed his eyes on a large leaf lamely.

" _I see…_ " Verah muttered, but Jake doubted she truly understood, which was fine by him. " _Is there… something wrong with it?_ " Jake gritted his teeth, not stupid enough not to realise what she was doing. Time for a counter-attack which he was sure even Tyler would have to be proud of.

"No, it's perfect. But you already know that. Chances are you had already decided to build your Hive here long before contacting Jeica, so why are we really here?"

" _It is true,_ " Verah admitted, her body losing its tension so she could lie down upon the ground comfortably. " _Receiving approval from a human was secondary to what I truly desire. I sought out Jeica because she is the Queen of your Hive, and thus it stood to reason she would be able to help me. The truth is, I am concerned for our fragile alliance. The Xenomorphs who are Bonded are perfectly happy to frolic with their humans, but the un-Bonded feel neglected. Without a Queen, they cannot… 'respawn', was it? And therefore, they cannot Bond. I am worried that if we do not make a move to find a Queen and some royal jelly soon, something terrible could happen. Jealousy is a powerful thing, especially when something so significant to our species as Bonding comes into question._ "

Jake placed a comforting hand on her crested head, giving it a long, lavishing stroke in the way he knew Advena loved. Verah visibly relaxed and purred lightly at the touch, a wisp of sadness permeating the air like a scented candle. Clearly she was no exception, and despite her talk of duty, she longed for a human to call her own.

"I promise you, we're working on it right now," Jake soothed her. "We just need access to the right resources and information before we can launch the mission. You just worry about getting this Hive built, yeah? Before you know it, I'll be back delivering some royal jelly right to your doorstep." Verah's lips parted into a relatively-small smile and slowly she shifted her legs back underneath her, allowing her to stand once more.

" _You are correct. We cannot accept a Queen until we prepare her a Hive. I shall remind the un-Bondeds of this, and perhaps the Hive's construction will keep them busy enough to keep the jealousy at bay. Thank you, Jacob._ "

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jake ticked 'Talk to Elder Verah' off his list and glanced over his other chores. He still had no idea who Marlene was, so that would have to wait. He was at a loss as to how to track down the drug dealers, so that was on hold for now, which only left finding the amateur pornstar. He could ask around and see if anyone recognised her face from the video, but that would be humiliating for her, and might cause people to look at him unfavourably, which would be counter-productive anyway. This left him with the exact same problem he was already having with the drug scandal; he needed to track down people he didn't know without making a scene of it.

"Damn it Jeica," he sighed to himself. If this wasn't her glorified grocery list, Jake might have accredited it to challenging him, thus making him prove himself worthy for a rank in the Resistance, but in reality he knew the real reasons for his suffering were much less productive. He bit his lip in thought, and a realisation dawned on him. Tyler was already snooping through all the colony's more secure cyberspace, what would be stopping him from helping Jake track people down? Aside from the obvious, of course. It was worth a shot, however, and Jake fished out his phone.

"Jacob," Tyler greeted neutrally. Quiet tapping could be heard like the feverish ticking of a clock, suggesting he was still working on whatever it was he needed to do to encrypt their communications.

"You busy at the moment?"

"That's a stupid question. Of course I'm busy; I'm always busy. The question is, is what I'm busy with important enough to trump whatever you want me to be busy with?"

"Uh… yeah, sure. I need help tracking some people down, can you do it?"

"I _could_ , theoretically, but it'll take a while. The colony's not too good with security like that. I can't run facial scans because there are hardly any cameras about, and there aren't enough automated systems to reliably expect a ping in an interaction log. But if it's soldiers you're looking for, that'll make things just a little easier."

"I need to track down our resident porn star, Private Yamu, Corporal Karm, and Private Leem. You get all that?" Jake asked, still staring down at the list of names in his hand as if the answer would pop up at any moment beside them. He heard Tyler typing at a much different tempo than before, and so could only guess he was on to it.

"Isn't this supposed to be your job?"

"It's my job to deal with them, finding them is fair game. Besides, I'm supposed to be proving my leadership skills or whatever. Doing everything alone isn't very leader-like."

"And getting others to do your work for you is. Are you starting to see why I'm not into the whole 'having a superior officer' thing?"

"I never had a problem understanding it, I just don't happen to believe going independent is right for me. I'm not the smartest guy and I have my flaws. I'm not afraid to admit I need the help of others at times, and having a CO fits the bill."

"And 'Vena, of course. You need her to keep you out of trouble."

"I find she generally gets me into it."

"Fair enough. I've got a hit on our pornstar wannabe; her name is Amelia Farlon. God bless whoever has taken on the hellish task of administration, she's currently written down as the lead training grounds overseer. She should be there any time the sun's shining and meals aren't being eaten. As for the others, I've got their profiles, but I'm going to have to do a bit more digging to track them down. Remind me to find whoever's taking the time to actually organise this fuckfest so I can give them a gift basket or something. Tyler out."

The line went dead, and Jake slipped his phone into his pocket. He was liking this, to say the least. Even if Tyler was still being a condescending prick most of the time, he was helping them, and that would prove invaluable, especially considering his previous position in the Welyand-Yutani program, and his apparently-extensive knowledge about… well, everything.

Jake promptly arrived at the hill which overlooked the large, flat, grass-less area which made up the training grounds, colloquially referred to as the 'arena'. A few trees dotted the area, usually accompanied by bench seats in their limited shade to provide a reprieve from the baking heat. There was little activity in the area – mostly marines touching up on their marksmanship, or colonists being given basic tips to improve on their pseudo-training, alongside the occasional Xenomorph, observing the activities and even being so bold as to take part, though the latter was only the case in one or two spots.

On the far end of the dry, cracked ground, a small modern building which could only be called a glorified shack stood with blinds pulled down within the windows in a feeble attempt to keep the sun out. It was situated near the large sheds which housed equipment, which meant it was most likely the administration building. Jake hazarded a guess and decided he would find this Amelia there. He made his way down the hill and strode across the hard ground, nodding greeting to the marines who offered him casual salutes, and knocked on the small building's door.

The unassuming wood panel creaked open, revealing the tall woman who had made the video, dressed smartly in her uniform. Her _Warrant Officer's_ uniform. Jake gulped nervously, his previous plans of how to approach the matter thrown to the wind at the revelation. She outranked him. That complicated things. He'd been hoping he could do the typical 'stern CO' act, bark a couple of orders with a little intimidation thrown into the mix and be done with it.

"Good afternoon Sergeant Harlor," Amelia greeted him, looking slightly bemused as to why he suddenly seemed so uncertain, but retaining her cool exterior. She looked very nonchalant for somebody who had just recently filmed herself having sex with an alien and abused military equipment.

"Uh… hey… Ma'am…" Jake managed to blurt out. He sighed and recomposed himself, remembering Tyler's words. There were technically no ranks involved here. A more 'human' approach might have been the better option from the get go anyway. "Look, can I come in for a minute? I need to talk to you, and it might be best if it's in private." Amelia's expression immediately sobered, and she stepped aside to allow him within. She knew what was up. He placed himself inside the small office-like area which was reminiscent of the temporary offices construction sites employed, and waited until the door had clicked shut before speaking, hands clasped firmly behind his back so as to prevent fidgeting.

She didn't make any moves to offer excuses or apologies, which either meant she was keeping her cards close to her chest, or she knew it was futile. "I'm going to make this clear: we're not part of the military anymore, so this isn't soldier to soldier, this is person to person. It also means you haven't broken any rules," Jake began, calmly, maintaining enough eye contact to be sincere, but not enough to make either of them uncomfortable. Amelia let out a small huff of relief. "That being said, any in-or-out-bound communications carry a significant risk with them, but there was nothing in your video which could lead the Wey-Yu to our door, which I imagine was purposeful, so we let that one slide. Just remember that while there won't be any court-marshals or other formal action against you to my knowledge, your actions do have consequences to everyone on this colony, not least of all yourself. I don't mean to intrude on your personal life but, remember that you are on a planet with one small colony where soon enough everybody will know everybody's face. If word spreads… I just really hope you thought this through."

"I appreciate your concern," Amelia told him politely, "but I don't regret it. I was actually thinking of trying to improve the Xenos' image. Porn seemed as good a place as any to start."

"Well, you certainly got the galaxy's attention," Jake assured her with a chuckle. "And, to be honest with you, maybe you're on to something. Maybe we should start broadcasting photos, videos and the likes of us interacting with the Xenos. Even if it means we give Weyland an easier time accessing them, at least we'll stop the slaughter."

"Stop one, make another worse. Still, the Xenos deserve better. We made these mistakes, we let Weyland rise to power, so we should deal with the consequences, not them." Jake made to commend her words, but was interrupted by the buzz of his phone. He gave an apologetic smile and quickly brought it up to his face.

"Tyler. Tell me you have good news."

"There wasn't much to work with, shaky leads at best, so I ditched the names and hacked the spaceport instead. I figured these guys were the aforementioned buyers?"

"Yeah, they were the buyers alright. So, you found the drugs themselves?" Amelia frowned at the mention of drugs, suddenly curious.

"Well, not exactly. These guys are thorough; if they got supplies from the outside, they wiped all records of it. So I fell back to the next best thing and brought up the colony schematics, scouted out a few potential locations. My money's on the terraformer shed. It's big enough for decent production rate, has all the resources needed to grow plants, and draws in quite the amount of energy from the power grid, despite this planet having never needed terraforming. If it's not drugs, it's something shady."

From what little Jake knew of colony procedures, he could agree with Tyler on those points. Terraforming was a strong word for the 'shed', which was really more of a warehouse-factory hybrid. The building was used for creating necessary components for planting Earthen flora, in case the planet was too barren or if there were no viable food sources. With a few added components, you could theoretically grow anything from any environment in there, including the infamous plant used to make Cloud-9.

"Alright, I'll check it out. Thanks Tyler."

"Just… be careful, okay? I have too few people who can put aside my sexuality and actually listen to me as it is. Not to mention Advena will be devastated if you get killed."

"I'll grab a really big gun, just for you," Jake promised, smirking despite knowing he'd probably just set himself back by jibing at the man's sincerity. Worth it. Tyler sighed, seemed to consider saying something else, then hung up.

"Sounds pretty serious," Amelia commented concernedly.

"What, taking down a drug operation manned by potentially-armed gangsters? All in a day's work nowadays."

"You have a plan?"

"Check the place out, if there's drugs in there, arrest everyone and destroy everything."

"Hm," was all Amelia had to say about that plan. Obviously she didn't think much of it. "How about this: you check the place out, and if there's drugs in there, you radio me for backup. We'll then storm the building, arrest anyone inside, and confiscate everything."

"Can't say no to a deal like that. Our best guess is the terraformer shed, so standby somewhere nearby. How much backup are we talking?"

"As many marines as I can gather from the training grounds. We have both live and training rounds here by the way, so you can take your pick and save yourself the trouble of a trip to the armoury if you like." Jake thanked her, and promptly made way for the neighbouring shed. A quick conversation with the clerk had him checking out an M4RA Battle Rifle. While certainly not his first choice of weaponry, it was far superior to the Pulse Rifle in the circumstances. Not that he hoped to use it, but that was another plus; Pulse Rifles lacked a certain intimidation factor which the Battle Rifle aced. Any rookie can pick up an M14A and go to town, but when you have a Battle Rifle in your face, you know it's time to put your gun down.

As Jake made his way off the training grounds, his phone buzzed once more, and a quick glance confirmed it was a message from Tyler, consisting solely of a map of the colony, a sloppy red circle drawn around a rather large building towards the centre. He smirked, loving this new Tyler he'd received, and pocketed the device with a better idea of where he was headed. The jog was long, as the training grounds were effectively on the very edge of town, but Jake had been vigilant on maintaining his body with daily drills, so he barely broke a sweat even in the high heat of the planet's summer by the time he reached his destination.

The building was fairly nondescript; typical Weyland-Yutani manufacturing, it was efficient, steel and easily movable. The buildings in its line were pre-made, basically folding out like cardboard boxes with thick windows that weren't quite glass, as they were slightly polarised and more durable. It reminded Jacob of the boatshed he had destroyed alongside Tyler mere days ago, albeit a colder, more clinical version. Jake chewed his lip as he eyed the high windows, situated near the ceiling so as to allow light in, but block the interior from view. It was as if the Wey-Yu _intended_ for it to be used as Tyler suspected it was, but then again, the Corporation was notorious for its shady operations, so that could very well be the case.

If Advena were with him, he could have gotten her to make quick work of scrambling up the smooth, steel walls and peeking in through the window, but as he was, he didn't have that advantage, and thus had to devise a different method. He glanced around the area thoughtfully, taking note of his surroundings. A few buildings stood rather close to the shed, varying in height, and some boarded off with neat planks of wood sealing the doors and windows where necessary. He supposed these were the preliminary buildings which would aid in the early days of colony construction, quickly becoming obsolete once better facilities were built. Under normal circumstances, the materials would be repurposed, but in this case it would have been far more trouble than it was worth, as there were copious amounts of building materials in the surrounding nature.

The boards looked to be bolted on with industrial bolts however, which meant he couldn't exactly break in and see if he could spot something through one of the building's windows – else what would be the point in boarding it up in the first place, he supposed. As he continued to stare, his gaze seemed to sharpen on its own, picking out random details he shouldn't have cared about. Two-inch gaps between boards, durable metal bars which would have attached to the delivering ship's cargo arm and gaps where the steel plating had peeled off over time became blatantly obvious.

Jake glanced between the ruined building before him and the terraformer shed's window, suddenly pondering how if he could get up to the third story window, he could lean out and take a peek into the target structure. He recalled not so long ago that he had been in Advena's body, trying to climb up his room's wall on the Reveles Station, and that his alien companion had fed him some of her instincts to assist him. It seemed the skills didn't leave him as he left her body. With a grin, he jogged towards the building and jumped the first foot of the climb, fingers catching the edge of a warped steel plate.

Persistent training schedule finally paying off, he began swinging himself gently with one arm whilst outstretching the other, working up his momentum until he could launch himself up towards the second story window, giving his hands a painful jolt when he grabbed one of the boards which sealed it. From there, it was a simple matter to haul himself up to the cargo rail and shimmy across it until he was below his target window, where he used the boards covering that one as a ladder. With a self-satisfied smirk of accomplishment, he leaned out with one hand anchoring him to the building and peered through the glass of the terraformer shed.

He didn't know whether to be nervous or relieved to find that beyond the high catwalks which lined the upper interior, grow beds and life-support systems for dozens upon dozens of Cloud-9 plants were being maintained by shady individuals clad in a mix between lab gear and gardening clothes. It didn't look particularly busy at that moment, but even so he spied facilities which were obviously used for chemical creation being worked by the experts, most likely to create the perfect acidic fertiliser.

"The fuck are you doing?" Jake startled at the harsh voice, and nearly fell out of his dangerous position, before jerking his gaze towards the ground. A crate had been discarded on the ground nearby to a man in dirty overalls who had obviously been carrying it into the shed. Rather than answer, Jake reeled himself in and slipped his radio out of his vest.

"Uh, Amelia? Now would be an excellent time for that back-up," he uttered. Several of the workers within the shed had come out at the commotion, shedding their lab equipment as they were pointed in his direction. A glint of steel caught the sun as one of the workers decided he'd seen too much and drew their weapon, leaving Jake to a split-second decision. He pulled himself in as close to the wall as he could get and tensed himself against the cool steel, before launching himself like a spring and tucking his head behind his arms as he sailed into the not-quite-glass window with a tremendous crash.

He thumped painfully onto the metal catwalk beyond, barely able to catch sight of the workers outside rushing back in to find him in his dazed state.

Then on the other side of the structure, the gargantuan loading doors exploded inwards, sending forth a billowing sea of smoke within. Likewise, grey clouds erupted from behind the gunmen who had just dashed back inside, sealing off both exits with gas which had anyone caught within coughing and watery-eyed. Flashes of blue light lit up the clouds like a miniature thunderstorm, sending out bright streaks which struck the drug-den's occupants one-by-one with pinpoint accuracy – though that wasn't too high praise, considering how frozen with shock or smoke they were.

Dark shapes emerged from the grey fog, neon blue strips of visors becoming visible as they neared the thinning edges, finally revealing two fireteams dressed smartly in USCM uniform, training guns leading their every move.

"Clear one," the leader of the first pack announced, waving their hand above their head in a reaffirming motion.

"Clear two," the other leader responded in kind.

"Visors off, cuffs out. Great job team; clean sweep," Amelia congratulated them, pulling her helmet off to unleash her short hair. She scanned the area for a moment, before catching sight of Jake as he gingerly slipped down a ladder, thumping onto the floor below. "That's hardly proper breach-and-clear procedure, Mister Harlor," she chided him with a clearly-amused smirk.

"That's Sergeant until I get my arm blown off, thank you very much," Jake retorted. "I had to improvise."

"Improvise," she scoffed sceptically, outstretching a small device towards him. He cocked his head in confusion as he accepted his radio handset from her, having not realised he'd dropped it in his tumble. That would explain why he hadn't gotten an answer from her earlier. She used the same arm to thump his shoulder playfully moments before sauntering off towards where her soldiers were dragging dazed and unconscious workers into a neat group.

Now with a moment to himself, Jake quickly patted his body down, plucking a small shard of not-quite-glass from his wrist and shaking some pieces from his boot, but was otherwise relieved to find himself unharmed; he imagined Advena would have up and left him if he managed to get himself gravely injured yet again in such a short amount of time; he hadn't even gotten the bandage off his shoulder yet from the wild animal attack a few days ago.

"Let me go you stupid bitch! You can't do this!" one of the prisoners spat spitefully as Amelia forced him onto his knees with his arm twisted behind his back. One of her marines handed her a zip tie, which she expertly tightened around the man's wrists.

"You're under arrest for the growing, possession and distribution of drugs," she told him matter-of-factly.

"On whose authority?"

"Lieutenant Smith's, commander of this colony," a familiar, female's voice announced. Jeica appeared in the doorway, head held high with pride and a self-satisfied smirk gracing her lips. "Good job Sergeant."

"Thanks," Jake grunted, popping his shoulder painfully. "That was quick."

"Well, there's still work to be done before I can start sending my militia out on missions – namely I need to recruit people for said militia – but this colony is now mine to control, within the confines of the Resistance ideals of course."

"And the Resistance trusts you, just like that?"

"Well, I was already helping some local lieutenants with Parker via our long-range comms, so between that and the fact that I'm a ranking military officer, the generals were pretty happy to have me on board." She suddenly twitched as she remembered something and fished out her radio. "Uh, yeah, negative on the fire. Situation is under control. Thanks Tyler."

"He saw smoke and assumed I'd set fire to the place?" Jake snorted

"You're surprised he did?" Jeica shot back. Jake shrugged in defeat; that was fair. "Though, between you and me, I think he's warming up to ya. He certainly seems to be enjoying himself, barking orders from a chair in a cosy room far away from the action. Given enough time, he might even abandon this 'Rogue Element' bullshit and join the hierarchy."

"Oh, and our favourite porn star might be worth talking to at some point; she seems to have some sense about her." Jeica gave him a doubting expression, to which he rolled his eyes. "Trust me; just have a chat with her. While I don't believe she had the purest of intentions in mind when she made the video, she has some pretty good excuses for it. As you can see, the drug operation is all sorted out, Verah actually didn't need any help, she just wanted a heart-to-heart and I didn't know what flavour you wanted, so I just bought all three." Jeica frowned in confusion, which only mounted when Jake pulled three bags of beef jerky from his chestplate and pressed them into her hands, along with the slip of paper with the to-do list on it. "Now I'm exhausted and sore all over, so I'm heading home. Adios, Lieutenant." Before Jeica could blush sheepishly, Jake saluted her tiredly and hobbled for the door.

The moment he entered his home, he collapsed onto the couch, squirming from side to side so he could access his armour and yank it off, leaving it in a heap to deal with later. As strong as he wanted to act, he was losing sleep, and it needed to stop or he wouldn't be able to do his job. He sighed as his last piece of armour flopped into the pile and massaged his temples warily. Despite his apprehension, he fell asleep fast.

When his eyes fluttered open, he was paralysed once more, this time his back was pressed against the hard, unforgiving wall, his limbs all plastered to its surface by uncompromising resin. He was facing the doorway, where the pitch blackness swallowed all hope and joy, staring at him menacingly in such a way as he knew it wanted to swallow him up too. He felt the familiar tickle of thick goo creeping up his calf, aiming to encase him fully as his heart rate ramped up a notch. An oppressive presence exerted itself in the darkness beyond the doorway. He felt it drawing closer once more, bringing nothing but maddening panic to his mind as he began struggling against his bonds, desperately trying to tug even a single arm free – but to no avail.

The presence crept ever nearer, and Jake knew that it – whatever it was – was the embodiment of death itself. Maybe a Xenomorph? Maybe not. He never felt scared around Xenomorphs, so why this? What could possibly be lurking where the light couldn't exist? His heart was trying to hammer itself out of his chest, fear gripping his very being. The presence was lingering just at the edge of his vision, keeping out of sight as it reared up to pounce. As it leapt towards him, before he could catch a glimpse of it, his eyes shot open. He was still pinned, a presence lingered in his mind, and a blurry, dark shape loomed above him.

He cried out in terror and desperately threw the weight aside, surprising himself when he managed to topple the creature alongside a squeal of surprise. He thumped painfully onto the floor, but didn't waste a second in rolling to his feet and bringing his fists up to bear.

When finally his breathing slowed and his vision adjusted itself to the darkness, he let out a shaky breath and relaxed. Advena picked herself up off the floor, hissing disdainfully to herself, but no anger bled through into their Bond. The presence – he could feel Advena's mind again; he'd almost forgotten what that was like. But she was there, reconnected, and when she found her feet, she gazed at him with a mental expression of concern.

" _Jacob?_ " she prompted hesitantly. " _Are you alright?_ "

"Yeah," he grumbled, rubbing a tired eye with the back of his hand.

" _You…_ " she started, before trailing off. She didn't really know how to breach the subject delicately, but it certainly made a few pieces fit together in her mind.

"Are being betrayed by my own mind?" he finished before her, flopping back onto the couch. "Yeah. It doesn't make any bloody sense, but it's there."

" _Why didn't you say anything?_ "

"Would you have listened?"

" _Probably not,_ " Advena admitted guiltily. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly for a moment, then grimaced and sat down next to her lover. " _It's… nothing to be ashamed of,_ " she reassured him, hesitant as if expecting him to bite her at any moment. " _Everyone is afraid of something, and often it's irrational. Some are afraid of bugs, even. Bugs! Being afraid of Xenomorph Hives is probably an excellent survival instinct – well,_ was _, up until a couple of months ago._ " Jake didn't say anything, and Advena gave him a mental prod, just to make sure he was still awake. He had lost an unhealthy amount of sleep over this. " _How about tomorrow we destroy that stuff in the bedroom and maybe your nightmares will go away?_ "

"No, Advena, we can't; you worked so hard on that…" Jake protested with about as much energy as a sack of potatoes.

" _Your health means more to me than a bunch of glorified dried saliva. If you don't want to help me, I'll just take it down by myself._ " Advena sternly pushed Jake down onto the couch so he was lying on his side and curled her body around him protectively, smiling warmly at the way he interlocked his hand with the large, black one which was draped over his stomach. She had missed this, and felt like an idiot for listening to Mozart, of all people. Screw tactical advantages; if war meant she couldn't enjoy her companion after decades of being alone, then she would kidnap Jake and take him somewhere far away, where war couldn't touch them anymore.

Jake, for his part, knew that determined strain of mental emotion; Advena wouldn't budge on this one, so he'd better let it slide for his sake. Not that he was in any position to argue any points at that moment anyway. Finally, with Advena's watchful presence, he could fall asleep, undisturbed by the plague of nightmares.


	5. The Russian

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who is submitting ideas for the story, I'm not ignoring you guys, and I'll try to get around to as many of them as possible. I do glance back over the reviews on both stories frequently to make sure I don't miss anything, it may just take some time for me to write it in.**

The _RFS_ _П_ _ризрак_ had drawn to a halt with the careful precision of its manoeuvring thrusters, leaving it utterly motionless in the vast expanse of empty space. A few dozen kilometres away – relatively close in the context of enormous spaceships – was the _USS Voyeur_ , drifting at a leisurely metre-per-second pace, well within comms range.

On the bridge, a stout man with hard eyes and a grim frown sighed and removed his cap to sweep his short, tidy hair aside, before placing it back on his head and pressing the comms button once again.

"Last time Americans; if you can hear us, respond." He and his bridge crew waited a few moments, none of them actually expecting a response. They hadn't received anything the first two times they'd tried either, and had already written it off as an emergency situation. Even so, it was always prudent to triple-check, as their English-speaking associates were very touchy about maintaining great distances from any of their ships or planets. The captain gave the order to board the ship, and prepped the manoeuvring crew for the appropriate stopping procedures once they were docked.

He didn't like it; nobody ever flew a ship this slow unless they were midway through a sloppy attempt at stopping. What bothered him more was that it was a military ship which had no right being out here in the middle of nowhere, which of course meant it had been drifting for some time. It was obvious then, that the crew were most likely dead. However, the scanner station attendant soon informed him that the engines still had residual heat, which meant whatever happened, hadn't happened all too long ago. Hours, maybe a day at most, depending on how abruptly the engines had shut down. Whatever the case, there was a possibility of survivors, so rescue teams would be prepped. There was also a possibility that there were threats on board, alien or otherwise, so the rescue teams would be well-armed.

Half an hour later, the ships were anchored together, long umbilicals were stretched between airlocks, thrusters fired up to slow the drifting vessels to a halt, and the Russian Marines shifted steadily by the bulkheads.

"Kak vy dumayete, eto _Xenomorphs_?" a marine asked in hushed tones, nervously sweeping her rifle in wide arcs so the torch beam could cut through the darkness of the American ship. The lights were out, leaving only the glow from machinery in the walls and floor to raise the light level above pitch black.

"Vozmozhno…" came the equally-nervous reply from her fireteam's leader. Like the rest of the cautious figures who were shuffling in through the peeled-open airlocks, his rifle's stock was shoved tightly into his shoulder, barrel darting from shadow to shadow as if any one of them might leap out at him – which could very well be the case if any of what they had heard of Xenomorphs was to be taken seriously. Their empire hadn't seen much action in terms of the hyper-deadly aliens, and that was fine by them, even if the cause of such a phenomenon could be directly blamed on the power-hungry Weyland-Yutani Corporation. It wasn't as if they had much of a choice other than turning a blind eye anyway, as the Wey-Yu had long ago managed to put them in the same position as the Americans, and the Indians, and the Chinese, and all the other superpowers which had survived the trials of time.

The fireteam leader put a finger to his helmet's radio and quickly sounded off. He waited patiently, and received only static in return. With a growl of frustration, he hailed their ship – or more specifically, the command centre – to the same result. Their comms weren't working. That was never a good sign, especially considering they were well within the radius of their ship's short-range. That meant something was blocking them off, probably on purpose. With that in mind, he barked for his team to be on alert and stay within shouting distance, then continued shuffling forward.

The rear two privates leapt in fright and jerked their guns towards a dark corridor as gunfire rang out from distant halls, while the leading Corporal placed his hand on the third private's shoulder and directed his gaze to their comrades' rears. Nobody was to have their back unprotected, not while Xenomorphs were a potential part of the equation. The Corporal quickly demanded a report, to which he received an underwhelming, but predictable, response. Nothing. The commotion was too far away, impossible to spot without marching down the twisting corridors, deeper into the heart of the ship. He tried to reach the _RFS_ _П_ _ризрак_ once more, but again, predictably, found he was still cut off. He grimaced as he weighed his options; he could call a retreat back to the airlock, which would most likely guarantee them safety as they hadn't managed to venture very far within the American vessel. On the other hand, if he didn't press forward, he could be dooming any surviving crew members on board, and without comms, he had no way of knowing who had come out on top of the firefight or what the enemy was. It could even have been a false alarm; he'd heard Americans weren't big on hygiene, and often had rat infestations on their space stations and vessels. All it would have taken was one rodent and one jumpy marine. "Ivanov, datchik dvizheniya."

One of the privates – Ivanov, his tag read – who still had his rifle trained in the direction of the noise nodded with a nervous gulp. He lowered his Pulse Rifle to his side, clutching it in one arm whilst he fumbled around his backpack with the other, eventually pulling out a cluster of screens, plastic and wires which looked like a clunky old police radar gun. He flicked a switch on the side, filling the immediate area with a soft, barely-audible, high-pitched whine which quickly rose to its crescendo and faded into the background. A fuzzy blue cone flickered to life on the digital display, seeming to have waves of static washing over it like ocean currents intermittently.

The screen crackled and descended into a frenzy of dancing white lines, and Ivanov uttered a curse under his breath, smacking the side of the machine with vengeance. It spluttered back to life, the display wobbling from side to side for a moment before settling in its proper place. A shrill beep sounded throughout the room, immediately stilling them all. Another, and another, the gap between beeps getting smaller and smaller. Ivanov pointed at the intersection before them, stepping back so the group could cover him, as defenceless as he was.

A flash of movement, a black shape darting past at high speed, seeming not to notice them, and then it was gone. The beeping settled like a heartbeat after a short sprint, eventually disappearing entirely. The soldiers remained still a few moments longer, weapons still trained on the now-empty intersection, hearts pounding in their chests.

"Xenomorph…" a private breathed. But it hadn't seen them. Maybe it was heading for another group of marines? If that was the case, they needed to give chase and assist. The private voiced these thoughts, and her CO grimly agreed, waving his team forward. They found themselves coming out in the ship's hangar, gulping nervously at the high ceiling brimming with catwalks above, shrouded in darkness which could conceal an army of Xenomorphs. However, what really put them on edge was the ships. Small dropships lined the walls in neat lines, toppled and tilted, scorched and missing parts. Landing gear, engines, computers and other essential components littered the floor nearby to their vehicles of origin. They had clearly been blown off by explosives of some kind – sabotaged. But why? Private Ivanov kept his eyes glued to the screen of his motion tracker, even though it was pointless. If there was motion in the catwalks above them, it was out of range of the severely-outdated equipment, but not out of range of a drop attack from a robust Xenomorph.

Their corporal suddenly called them to a halt, raising a clenched fist in their air, before pointing out a single, undamaged ship, not daring to utter a word. The ship was an utter black sheep; it wasn't military like all the rest, and it was parked haphazardly in the middle of the hangar. The corporal deducted this meant they had never gotten around to parking it properly, so this ship had arrived soon before the disaster. He motioned for the privates to watch his back while he stepped closer to the vehicle, running a hand along its side as he walked around it, inspecting it. It was a maintenance shuttle, the kind that space stations leant to docked cruisers to fix up any hull damage. So this shuttle had either abandoned a space station to be picked up, jumped ship from a different cruiser which had departed its station in a hurry, or had been leant to this vessel, only for it to launch prematurely. His hand brushed over the designation. He couldn't read it, but he knew Private Sokolov had some English under her belt.

The Corporal motioned her over, and she whispered her response so quietly she was almost inaudible.

"Ree-vell-iss… Three…" She turned that word over in her head. _Reveles._ She'd never heard of it before. The Corporal scratched his chin and began pacing away from the vehicle, causing her to half-turn in case he gave any hand signals. And that's how she caught it. A red glint, bouncing off her CO's breastplate – one dot, two, she didn't bother to count. "Snayper!" she cried, throwing herself onto his back, toppling them both to the ground as a blur of blue flashed past them, colliding with the far wall and exploding into a brilliant shower of sparks and flame.

"Dvizheniye!" yelled Ivanov, pointing wildly in their direction. Sokolov rolled to her feet, bringing up her Pulse Rifle as her eyes darted about, searching for their enemy. Ivanov took matters into his own hands, backpedalling away from his team in order to pull out his pistol, wielding it alongside his motion tracker. He began firing wild shots at nothing. Literally nothing. Sokolov had her torch beam darting around wildly in the area he was shooting, and she saw not a shape nor shadow. If there was a Xenomorph there, she would have seen it by now.

Then, blood sprayed from his stomach, two holes appearing from thin air as his mouth flapped open and shut in disbelief, equipment falling from his hands. He was hoisted a foot into the air, then dropped onto the floor in a pool of his own blood. There had been nothing. Nothing. Private Vasiliev screamed and pressed his trigger down, his Pulse rifle matching his roar of rage and his ammo counter rapidly spiralling down into the depths of nothingness. Sokolov didn't hear his dying gurgle over the high-pitched gunfire, but she saw the circular object as it passed through his chest and circled around the hangar. Vasiliev fell to his knees, then collapsed onto the ground, gun finally clicking empty.

The Corporal, to his credit, kept a level head. The disc whistled quietly as it circled back around the room, and he followed it with his Battle Rifle, keeping his eye glued to the scope and finger pressed as hard against the trigger as he dared, until the disc disappeared. He pulled the trigger. A spray of green flew up and splattered across the floor, the air flickering and distorting. A creature in a near-featureless silver mask with dreadlocks spilling from the seams and barbarian-esque armour complete with fishnet stockings was stumbling backwards, a hole in its shoulder leaking green fluid.

Sokolov took cover behind a wrecked dropship when she spied a small weapon on its shoulder rear up. The Corporal must have seen it too, because he rolled aside, barely managing to avoid the bolt of blue energy which ensued. But the dodge left him vulnerable, and with a leap that no human was capable of, the creature landed on him, one hand on the man's throat, the other drawing back its fist so a pair of wicked blades could flick out of its wrist armour. The Corporal choked on his own blood when those blades embedded themselves in his chest, but as all humans must, he had the last laugh. With a lunge unexpected of a dying man, the creature stumbled back, a combat knife buried in its neck.

To Sokolov's amazement and horror, the creature yanked the blade out of itself and tossed it aside, as if it had been a spit ball from a fourth grader; a minor annoyance. Sokolov quickly ducked behind her makeshift cover, evening out her breathing in an attempt to quieten herself. A quick check of the situation made it obvious that despite the burning need to avenge her comrades, any attacks on the alien would most likely be ineffective. What's more, her helmet camera's feed had captured most of the battle. If she could find a way out of the communications block and get the info to her people, they could analyse it and find a way to take the bastard down.

She cautiously took another peak over the lip of an upturned wing, and spotted the creature hoisting her Corporal's body into the air by the chin, turning the head this way and that, sizing it up. The blades slid from its wrist, and Sokolov had to force herself back down when the cruel metal began carving away the man's skin and flesh, right down to the bone. She didn't understand what purpose the sick act held, but it created an opportunity for her. Keeping low to the ground in a careful crouch, she shuffled her way across the room, avoiding rolling from one cover to the next, as although it would leave her out in the open less, the noise could very well alert the creature, who was still busily chipping away at the Corporal's flesh.

She reached the exit just in time to see the creature finish hollowing out the skull, thin red splotches still clinging to the pure white bone, running down the smooth dome and dripping from the upper jaw. The creature slipped it tenderly into a netted pouch on its belt. A trophy, it seemed. Almost in the clear, she stepped through the empty doorway, an entire bulkhead door having vanished mysteriously at some point before they'd arrived. That was when an air-shattering _clang_ split the eerie silence, making her physically cringe and skip a heartbeat. She pressed herself into the alcove created by the door's frame and took a sharp breath as a low hiss filled the corridor.

In the darkness, she could barely make out the unfolding form of a Xenomorph as it slid stealthily out of an overhead vent, as if the entire ship hadn't just heard that cacophony. Within the hangar, the injured creature unsheathed its claws and primed its shoulder cannon, assuming an aggressive stance. Sokolov bit back a whimper as the Xeno screeched and sprinted past her with unmatched speed, barrelling straight towards the other alien. The injured extraterrestrial let loose a ball of energy, which was deftly avoided by a timely leap to the left, barely putting a dent in the Xeno's furious pace. They clashed, and Sokolov decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, instead choosing to use the opportunity to flee, before any other aggressive, deadly creatures decided to appear.

She dropped into a sprint, confident that nothing would hear her over the explosive weaponry and screeches of rage. It seemed that the Xenomorphs were no friends of these new creatures, which was a blessing for her and the rest of her kind. One species could be used as a distraction for the other, giving humanity a respite in being hunted down and slaughtered.

Just as she'd expected, several more Xenomorphs seemed to pour off the walls, out of small crevices and maintenance shafts, drawn to the sounds of battle. Sokolov did her best to ignore them and kept tearing her way through the winding corridors, her booted feet pounding on the metal grills more than likely painting a massive target on her back, but it was too late to stop now. They had her scent.

She burst into the mess hall, finding the swinging double doors would only open so much, as tables and heavy furniture had been pushed up against them as a barricade, with a small gap over the top to shoot out of. Sokolov rolled over the small mound, thumping onto the floor on the other side in a crouch, before figuratively ripping up the ground as she resumed her hasty pace.

She slid to a halt, nearly toppling over as her momentum threatened to overbalance her armoured form, but she stuck out a hand to catch herself, her palm finding her target. A discarded Pulse Rifle, left behind by one of the several torn-apart corpses which littered the room. This one was American standard issue – slightly different to her own. She scrabbled with the corpse's ammo pouch for a moment, retrieving two bulky, smooth capsules. She loaded one into the under barrel which her own weapon lacked and pumped the loading mechanism. Then, alongside a nearby furious screech from a Xeno, she was off once more, heading at full speed towards the other exit on the opposite end of the room.

She leapt through the similar gap in the barricade, slamming into the doors with her shoulder while twisting her body so she could aim her commandeered weapon behind her. She unleashed the single capsule from the under barrel and hit the ground with an undignified grunt of pain, ending up sprawled across the floor with her cheek pressed against the cool metal grating. The doorway exploded, sending the doors flying off their hinges and smoke clouds billowing everywhere in the corridor beyond, so thick with the residue of burning wood furniture it was near impossible to see.

"Grebanyye Amerikantsy," she muttered through coughing fits. She tossed the Pulse Rifle and its attached grenade launcher aside in favour of covering her stinging eyes with her arm as she pushed her way through the smoke and out into a clear corridor. There was no way anybody on the ship had missed _that_ , but any pursuers would lose her in the smoke, so she quickly settled into a stealthier approach, sticking to shadows, triple-checking the way was clear, keeping noise to a minimum and hugging the walls.

She had decided not to use her flashlight, as it would only serve as a beacon to give away her position to the assumedly-copious amounts of hostiles roaming the ship, yet found herself missing its guiding beam. She brushed into what looked like the infirmary, keeping her Pulse Rifle in her hands with the safety off, ready to end her quiet streak if need be. She could make out the shapes of the rows of cots and carts of supplies strewn about with abandon, as well as something hanging from the ceiling. With equal parts caution and curiosity, she shuffled closer, keeping her weapon trained on the unidentified object and not daring to avert her eyes.

Just as she began getting close enough to make out its shape, it suddenly lunged at her and screeched, exposing a row of razor-sharp teeth which glinted in near-absent light, a small set of jaws popping out where the tongue should have been, nearly scraping her forehead. Sokolov fell back on her ass and squirmed away, hesitating on the trigger when she realised it was wriggling, but not getting any closer to her. Upon further inspection, she discovered the Xenomorph was in fact hog-tied with some kind of durable steel rope, disallowing movement in any of its limbs to attack or free itself with. But it was still alive, and that was bad. Not because it was a deadly creature hell-bent on killing humanity as creatively as possible, but because it had been caught by one of the _other_ aliens, and left alive. Trapped. In need of rescue. As bait.

Sokolov dived onto the nearest cot and rolled over its bouncy mattress to thump onto the floor on the other side. She snatched a blood bag from the cabinet beside her and dug into it with her teeth, spitting out the coppery taste. She tossed it into the middle of the room and jumped on it as gracefully as possible, spraying crimson up her legs and giving the walls a new coat. A blotch of red reared back in confusion, and Sokolov grinned nastily.

"Privet, ublyudok," she chirped with a little wave, before tucking in her stock and opening fire. The shimmer of red-tainted air leapt aside, deftly darting away from her short bursts of gunfire. It was closing the distance between them, forcing Sokolov to let up her assault so she could retreat, turning her back on it momentarily so she could vault over another cot. That was her mistake. When she whipped back around, she was just in time to see a splotch of blood smear onto the wall were the creature was wiping its hands clean, leaving it just as hard to see as when they started.

She desperately searched the area for anything she could use, and spied a familiar word; ' _morphine_ '. She snatched up a syringe and clutched it like a knife, pressing her back against the wall so she couldn't be snuck up on. The creature was hard to spot, but not completely invisible. There was always a telltale distortion in the air…

Sokolov lunged and jabbed her needle forward, sticking it into the blur of movement and squeezing the contents into its body. A heavy fist collided with her stomach, sending her crashing into the opposite wall, but her mission was accomplished. As an added bonus, when the alien yanked the small needle out of itself, the rough handling made a trickle of green blood ooze down its body. The creature snarled, flickering into visibility and removing its face mask so Sokolov could stare into its ugly mandibles while it approached her. It was a harsh blow to her seemingly-excellent plan, but the overdose of painkillers seemed not to affect the creature. She was too winded to move in any meaningful way, but she still decided to flop over and try to crawl anyway. The creature seized her by the throat and she slipped her pistol out of its holster. As quickly as she did, the alien batted it aside with the back of its hand, sending it clattering pathetically to the floor. Rather than grace the monstrosity with her squirms, she yanked out her combat knife, too groggy to stab the bastard as her Corporal had done.

The creature gripped her wrist hard and forced the knife away from itself, its immense strength leaving Sokolov with no chance. No chance except yanking the weapon to the side. The alien hadn't been guarding against such a move, as it wouldn't have served any purpose. Or it wouldn't have, had the knife not been strong enough to cut through durable steel rope, given enough force. The blades flicked out of its wrist device as a heavy _thump_ sounded. The creature threw Sokolov and quickly brought its arm across its face as its midnight black captive leapt at it, claws and tails ready to strike, despite still being slightly tangles up in the steel wire. Sokolov's head collided with a cabinet, sending her vision into a hazy blur that threatened to teeter into pitch black. She woozily swayed as the two aliens clashed, one slashing viciously and animalistically while the other used its blades to block and defend.

The Xenomorph gave a heavy swipe, which was dodged, leaving its flanks open to attack, which the other creature took full advantage of. It kicked the Xeno's side and struck down with its blades, only to have its arm smacked aside at the last second by the Xeno's tail. The shoulder-mounted gun flared to life while the creature stumbled, determined not to leave itself unguarded against attack. A blue bolt fired, forcing the Xeno to leap away or be incinerated. The creature felt a tug at its belt as it reached for its Smart Disc, and it whirled to smack the attacker away, but Sokolov had already collapsed back onto the floor, atop her discarded Pulse Rifle. Before it could sink its blades into the vulnerable human, it was tackled by the Xenomorph and thrown to the floor.

Not even a second later, the Xeno was sent flying back by a concussive blast courtesy of its wrist device, fading from its angry read glow. The shrill roar of a Pulse Rifle filled the room as this was happening, leaving no room for dodging. Several dozen caseless rounds were emptied into the trophy bag on the creature's belt, detonating the under barrel grenade she'd placed within and completely consuming the creature in flame, as well as tossing its dismembered body parts across the room.

Sokolov sighed and allowed her head to hit the floor, the weapon slipping from her hands. She'd done it; she'd –

 _Kssssss…_

Sokolov chuckled deliriously. Of course. The Xeno had been knocked aside seconds before the explosion. She didn't mind though. She got to take down one of the bastards who'd wiped her squad out with her. The Xeno appeared in the edge of her vision, a drop of drool splattering onto her cheek. It poked her body testily until she hissed with pain when it hit a sore spot. Much to her dismay, this prompted further investigation in the way of the deadly alien sticking its head under her shirt to check over her bruised ribs.

"Prekrati eto!" Sokolov complained as loudly as she dared – which wasn't very loud, but that could also have been due to her aching chest which made it hurt to breathe. The Xeno drew back and cocked its head, clearly confused. "Vi ponimayete menya?" Nothing. "American?" The alien before her nodded eagerly. It recognised that word. "American alien eh? American ship, American alien. American mess. You understand American?" Another nod. "What you know eh? American train alien, like puppy. We make good team, you and I. American agree?" The Xeno dipped its head rather aggressively at the word 'puppy', but nodded grudgingly nonetheless.

Sokolov groaned as she gingerly hauled herself into a sitting position, panting slightly at the pain which raced up her chest. "Ugh. We make team then, hm American? You be my soyuznik. Both go home. Good?" A forlorn nod. It seemed to be hung up on her last statement. It was surprisingly easy to read such a creature; the body language was quite similar if you watched carefully. The way the Xenomorph's gaze drifted into the distance at the mention of home, thinking deeply. "You not have home? No worry, American. Come home with me, make you little sweater for cold, drink vodka together and talk on porch. Like happy family." Sokolov barked out a short laugh and patted the alien's shoulder, making it flinch defensively, but relax after a short moment. "Captain like you, I'm sure," she concluded in a slightly more serious tone. "Now, help up dying woman eh? I kid, take more than that to kill Russian."

The Xenomorph huffed, but complied anyway, offering its tail as a handhold. Sokolov seemed amused that it acted above holding out a hand for her and accepted the help, finding even its tail had the strength to haul her to her feet with ease. "Where we go, Soyuznik? Maybe sniff out Russians, eh? Not liking American. American stupid language, why I stop learning it." The Xeno huffed at her again, which was their kind's equivalent of rolling their eyes, unbeknownst to her. It took the lead, out the opposite end of the room from where Sokolov had entered. "That and American boyfriend break up," Sokolov reminisced as she followed. "Good thing I learn for him. Why speak American anyway? Speak Russian. Russian good language."

The Xeno cast a disdainful look back at her, as if pleading her to shut up. Sokolov laughed heartily and took the silent advice, pausing to retrieve her pistol and knife. "Fine, fine Soyuznik. I be quiet now." She paused, her hand hovering over her knife, before snatching it up and approaching one of the unidentified alien's arms. The wrist device was still completely intact, though the same could not be said for anything past the elbow. Sokolov ran her hands over the device, and found a clip that was much higher-tech than it needed to be which allowed the lightweight yet robust metal to slip off and into her grasp. Now was an excellent opportunity to grab research material for the scientists back home. For good measure, she nabbed the mask from where it had fallen to the floor in the scuffle, clipping it to her belt alongside the wrist device.

Distraction over, Sokolov hobbled back to her companion and waved it on. _Him_ , Sokolov decided. She waved _him_ on. She doubted she'd ever be able to discern its real gender anyway, so this was the best way of saving herself from a headache. "Soyuznik, stop. Bridge that way. American put control centre in bridge. Very lazy, convenient for us. We turn radios back on, yes? I phone Russian ship. Maybe find documents if lucky. Then we go home. Good?"

Soyuznik, as he had been dubbed, drew to a lazy halt, pausing momentarily to try and convey how much he despised the way this little alliance was going, but finding the emotions lost on his human companion. They ought to be fighting or escaping, not mucking around with control centres and radios. But most of his siblings were dead or scattered, and he had found that being alone hadn't worked out so well previously, so he gritted his sharp teeth and complied.

They were in the front section of the ship now, and the duo made good time to the bridge, not encountering anything along the way as Soyuznik would often hear when something was coming. He had a pleasant way of informing her to hide too – a hearty slap on the calf with his tail that would surely leave a welt later.

Sokolov brushed past the operations consoles, ignoring the recently-deceased Americans slouched over consoles or spilled onto the floor. She saw enough of them to notice the holes in their chests however, and cast a sour look at Soyuznik, who simply smirked slightly and gave his best innocent shrug. Oh how he enjoyed getting on her nerves for once.

Just as she'd expected, the bridge was still operating – albeit barely. Curiously, the lighting systems seemed fine, and Sokolov frowned as she pushed the small slider up the console, bathing the entire ship in bright rays. She brought up some audio logs so she could do some detective work while she searched for the communications console, stumbling over the English labels. She wasn't all too good with the reading side of the American language, and had to spend several seconds sounding out every word, while still keeping half an ear on the logs.

" _Playing all logs marked 'priority'. Captain clearance accepted,_ " a painfully-artificial voice informed her, before the log began playing.

"Negative on your mission, Captain. Reveles is dust. However, laboratory XN-332 has kindly offered to share some of their specimens with us in its place. I have uploaded the new coordinates to your console. Oh, and Captain? Do hurry; without Xenos around, human experimentation is becoming the latest muse amongst the scientists. Urandin out."

" _Playing entry two of three,_ " the synthetic voice droned.

"Ship is a maintenance class short-range shuttle assigned to the Reveles station."

"Shit, Reveles? How the hell did it end up all the way out here?"

"According to the sole occupant, the shuttle was flown off this planet here; Altin."

"Altin is two weeks' flight away from Reveles in a military-grade cruiser. This guy was in a fucking shuttle. Are you some kind of moron?"

"Apparently, the shuttle was taken there aboard the _ERRV_ _Merciful Indictor_ , alongside a small army of rebels and the station's Xenos. This guy was on the crew of the _USS_ _Black Hand_ when they tried to storm the planet, and ultimately joined the rebel's ranks to avoid dying, before flying out here in the hopes of finding us."

"Pretty shit plan if you ask me. Idiot could have been stuck out here for months."

"Well, it worked didn't it? The colony on Altin probably has long-ranged scanners, or maybe they got tipped off by some of their rebel friends. Either way, he wouldn't have found us without the help of _someone_ , so he could very well be telling the truth."

"Well, we'll need to grab some back-up then, no way in hell we're going against… is that important?"

"That? That would be the recording light. Damned thing must have started automatically when we picked up the shuttle. Computer, end log."

" _Playing entry three of three._ "

"Okay, if you're hearing this, we're probably dead. The situation is simple: alien hostiles known as the… uh… Yat-yoot-y-y- fucking Predators are attacking us. They have some kind of grudge against the Xenos, and vice versa, so we're just gonna let them fight it out. Hopefully they'll thin out each other's numbers enough for whoever comes to rescue us to mop them up. The Predators have the technological advantage, so I'm turning off the lights to give our alien test subjects a chance. If you _are_ the rescue team, and the ship's still overrun, then _get the hell out of here_. They'll take over your ship too. If that has already happened, then all the ships in the hangar have been loaded with coordinates to the nearest inhabited planet. Don't try to save us; we're probably all already dead."

" _End of priority logs._ " Sokolov finally found the screen which controlled the communications, and painstakingly shut down the signal jammer.

"Damn Americans," she muttered, "block everything but own frequencies. Stop access by others." Soyuznik seemed as though he couldn't care less about the whole ordeal; all he really wanted to do was take the man's advice and get off the damned ship. But Sokolov was insistent on wasting their time pressing buttons and talking into metal panels.

" _Vnimaniye!_ " a feminine, synthetic voice blared from the console. It was the _RFS_ _П_ _ризрак_ 's AI. "Sudno nakhoditsya pod atakoy. Otstupleniye."

"Ship under attack," Sokolov explained hurriedly as she limped towards the exit. "We hurry Soyuznik; maybe not much time." Soyuznik briefly considered snubbing his nose at her and finding his own way, but he couldn't fly a ship. If he abandoned his temporary companion, he would be dooming himself to die on this ship, as the Yautja would not rest until they were all wiped out. This wasn't a matter of hunting, after all. This was a matter of destroying the Xenos before they could become a major, interstellar threat.

The duo rushed down the corridors, towards an airlock with an attached umbilical. Sokolov slammed her hand on the cycle button impatiently, giving it a few more firm smacks as if that would hurry it up. A sharp, stinging slap on her leg, probably drawing blood due to the careless handling of the blade-tipped tail. Sokolov half-turned, and cursed as she spotted a flitter in the air. A Predator was near. She slammed her hand on the button a few more times.

"Chertova Amerikanskaya musor!" Sokolov yelled. Soyuznik got the impression he didn't want to hear a translation of that. He hissed and bared his teeth, lowering his stomach towards the ground as he heard the faint, light-footed steps of the Predator which stalked them.

" _Preduprezhdeniye!_ " the AI announced over Sokolov's radio. "Byla nachata posledovatel'nost' samounichtozheniya."

"Nyet!" Sokolov cried. The airlock door rumbled open, exposing the umbilical beyond, the transparent tube exposing the starlit blackness of space beyond. It seemed almost too fragile to be trusted with their safety, as the glass-like substance was all that stood between them and a horrible death. To her frustration, all the time spent cycling the airlock had been for nothing, as a bypass courtesy of the Russian marines had caused both doors to be synchronous – i.e., they both opened at once, rendering it useless as an airlock, but helpful if you wanted to get in and out of a ship quicker than you can say 'hurry the hell up I'm going to get ripped in half by an angry evil alien'.

"Dyesyat, dyevyat, vosyem…" the AI droned. Soyuznik found himself unexplainably nervous. The rhythm of the computer's pseudo-speech reminded him of something. Counting. "Syem, shest, pyat, chyetirye…" Three dots flared to life, quickly homing in on Sokolov's exposed back while she ducked into the airlock's doorway, tugging Soyuznik's tail along behind her. "Tree, dva, odin."

"Der'mo," Sokolov breathed, screwing her eyes shut. The ship shook violently as through the umbilical, enormous balls of fire could be seen erupting from the rear section of the Russian vessel, spreading quickly along the underside before shooting out the front in great plumes. The aftershock quickly followed, whipping the umbilicals as if they were skipping ropes, sending a wave throughout the small tunnels that shattered, bent, and twisted everything it touched. The lights flickered as the second, more vigorous tremor hit them, throwing things onto the floor, shaking loose roof panels and jerking pipes out of their housings. Then came the deafening rush of air and the shrill squeal of the alarm. Soyuznik embedded his claws into the mesh below while Sokolov braced herself in the doorway, watching with grim awe as the Predator was hurled past them, out to where the umbilical had once stood. It attempted to catch the outer doorway with its claws, but merely created a shower of sparks as it bounced off and into the void beyond.

A mechanical whirr followed by a resounding _clang_ had the outer doors firmly shut, courtesy of the automatic safety procedures, which had thankfully bypassed the marines' tampering. The duo collapsed back into the dingy corridors of the American vessel.

"Der'mo!" Sokolov cried again. She didn't know what to say for a few minutes, so the two merely listened to the _clangs_ and _booms_ of debris from the Russian vessel hitting the ship's hull. "Aliens must have overrun ship. Too many soldier die in American death-trap. This way nobody try rescue us to same fate. Honourable thing," Sokolov droned finally. Soyuznik grimaced at the human who was slouched on the floor, back pressed firmly against the cold steel wall. Her eyes looked unfocused, fixated on something distant, beyond the corridor walls, beyond the ship even. She was very obviously shaken and in a state of disbelief. He had to muster up some sympathy for her; he knew what it was like to watch one's Hive vanish like that. One moment, they were there, the next… poof. "Worst part Soyuznik, if Americans still alive, would not even be grateful for rescue. American hate Russian. Russian hate American. Way things are now. Ever since Corporation leave Federation."

Soyuznik nuzzled her arm gently, pitying the defeated tone in her voice, but knowing full well this wasn't over yet. They could still escape; the log had mentioned a nearby planet they could fly to. If they were sneaky enough, they might even manage to get away un-followed. If not… well, he hoped the planet had some serious firepower. Sokolov sighed and wearily forced herself back onto her feet. She needed a doctor to check out her ribs; she suspected they were broken, judging by the sharp pains which still plagued her. She'd had bruising before, but this felt different. All the more reason to get to that colony. "You are right, Soyuznik. Can do no help now. We go to hangar, tell colonists. They deal with it; American solve own problems."

That was good enough for Soyuznik, who nodded sagely and turned tail, ready to lead the way. Then he paused. What _was_ a hangar? Sokolov laughed quietly and patted his flanks. "I lead, I lead." The two carefully picked their way back through the ship, making a couple of wrong turns when Sokolov misinterpreted signage, but mostly remaining unhindered. If Soyuznik had to guess, the Predators had deemed most of the threats wiped out, and only a few scout teams would be left to clean up the survivors. To Sokolov, it was simply unsettling, and she was constantly on edge. Soyuznik wished he could console her, if only to stop her twitching and ducking into alcoves whenever she heard a noise. It slowed them down, and the longer they stayed, the more likely it was they'd be found. As much as he relished their victory over the first Predator, he doubted they could take on another one, especially seeing as they were both injured.

He grimaced as his broken ribs poked at his insides uncomfortably. If only there were Xenomorph doctors. Some royal jelly would do the trick, but it had been so long since he'd last seen a Queen, and stopping off at a human colony would only take him further away from hopes of rejoining a Hive. But the alternative was hardly better, so stop off at the colony he would. Maybe one of the humans' experiments would inadvertently heal him up.

The duo made it to the hangar, but lingered in the doorway a moment. It was a very open area, with the only cover being the wrecked ships – the ships. Sokolov cursed, scanning the area. All of the dropships. All of them, in ruins. For a moment she was utterly lost, all hope seemingly having failed them, but then she remembered her team's gruesome deaths. Or, rather, the object that had been next to the massacre. A small maintenance shuttle, barely big enough for three people, let alone vehicles, supplies or comfortable living space. But it would have to do.

She ran her eyes over the scene again, searching for the tiny vessel, ignoring the bodies which became obvious in the light; hanging out of vehicles, slumped on loading ramps, buried under supply crates, crushed under heavy pieces of wreckage. Every one of the destroyed ships was a failed escape attempt, which would explain why the shuttle hadn't been destroyed; nobody in their right mind would pick that as their first choice of escape vehicle. But for them, it would have to do.

Sokolov ducked back into the doorway and faced her alien companion. "Alright, Soyuznik. One ship; we go, find supplies, leave. Food, water. Watch for aliens. I ready ship, you supplies. Yes?" Soyuznik hesitated. That sounded like a pretty good opportunity to ditch him and escape herself without the risk of having a deadly alien on board. "Trust, Soyuznik. Russian never go back on word. Spend too much time around American. We go together, or neither." He got the feeling she was exaggerating slightly, but gritted his teeth. He wasn't getting out of here without her to fly the ship anyway, so he could either help her and risk dying here, or refuse and guarantee it. He nodded, hoping he wouldn't regret this. "Good. Soyuznik be ready; ship very loud, lots of attention. Do not let break."

Sokolov set off, keeping as low to the ground as she could while maintaining a steady jog, wasting as little time as possible in finding the undamaged ship, praying that it had stayed that way while she was gone. Meanwhile, Soyuznik darted across the wide open spaces, stopping at every open dropship door to check the supplies which were strewn about. Most ships just contained bodies, as the would-be-escapees didn't plan ahead, but some contained heavy bags which Soyuznik sifted through. Some had been ruined by heavy objects or corpses falling on them, but he found plenty that weren't and quickly looped his tail through the straps.

Sokolov deftly ran her hands over the controls, powering up the engines clumsily, as the tech was incredibly outdated and labelled in English. The low whine began, and Sokolov grimaced. It was loud, but not loud enough yet to drown out a crackle and shrill beep. Sokolov's heart stopped. She knew that sound.

Letting the engines warm up, she ducked through the small entry hatch and stumbled over the corpse of her dead squad mate, stooping to pick up the fizzling device which he had once held. Another beep, accompanied by a white dot appearing on the blue screen. "Soyuznik!" she cried, leaping aside just in time for a bolt of blue to sail past her. She whipped out her pistol and fired off several rounds, using her motion tracker as a reference. All of her shots missed, but clearly they gave enough indication for a certain black mass of muscle and claws to crash into the invisible target. The camouflage flickered off the Predator as they both sailed to the ground.

Soyuznik tore off the creature's mask with a deft flick of his claws and shot his second maw straight into the offending alien's forehead, killing it instantly. The element of surprise had won him that one, but if there were more nearby, they might not be so lucky.

Sokolov swiped one of her comrades' Pulse Rifles off the ground and pressed it to Soyuznik's chest. Fearlessly and with an expression of grim determination, she grabbed his left hand and placed it on the foregrip, followed by his right hand on the handle, taking extra care to thread his long, bony finger through the trigger guard. She pointed to the barrel. "Point at enemy." Then the trigger. "Pull for kill. I handle ship, you handle enemy." Soyuznik nodded shakily. He hated guns. He hated their shrill squeal and the painful, sometimes even lethal stings as the sharp bullets tore through his skin. But he hated the thought of dying and letting the Predators win even more, so he steeled himself. He jumped in surprise a little when he felt his tail being wrapped around a second object. "It guide you; tell you where unseeable enemy is."

Soyuznik raised the small screen into his vision, noting a white dot appear on the edge with an accompanying squeak. "They come. Ready, Soyuznik." Then she stooped down to pick up the bags he had dropped in his ambush, ready to stock up the ship. She was much less efficient than him, only carrying two bags at a time, and thus made him question the decision to have him here with the gun he could barely operate. But Sokolov took a few minutes to come out, and Soyuznik realised she was probably readying the ship as well. That, or… no. She wouldn't leave him. She promised.

His finger tightened on the trigger, and he would have dropped the weapon if his fear hadn't been causing him to clutch it in a death grip. As it was, he managed to keep ahold as the weapon struggled and kicked in his hands, sending dizzying sprays of light and deafening noise through the air. He wasn't hitting anything, but the chaotic jumps the dots made on the screen led him to believe he was at least keeping them occupied. He counted three, but he didn't know what the range was like on the device.

A bolt of blue soared from his right, and he leapt aside just in time. It struck dangerously close to the ship, and Soyuznik realised he had to give it some space, or risk it suffering the same fate as the others. He quickly danced away, spraying bullets everywhere as he went. The dots followed, and he caught Sokolov loading the last bags inside the shuttle out the corner of his eye. That meant they were ready, all he had to do was make it back there. But the moment he made a move to go back, Sokolov shook her head at him. "No Soyuznik! They shoot ship if we leave! Need to get rid of aliens!"

She threw herself to the hangar floor as a disc whistled overhead, narrowly avoiding her before circling around in a wide arc towards the opposite end of the room. Soyuznik's suspicions were confirmed; there were more outside the range of his motion tracker.

Suddenly, the room got a whole lot quieter. His finger kept tightening on the trigger, but only clicking met his ears. The gun had stopped working. With an 'eep' of terror, he bolted into the nearest wreckage, throwing himself behind a heavy-duty metal crate. He found himself oddly disturbed by the human corpse laying beside him, slumped over the crate with his cold, dead hand on the electronic lock, a pair of holes penetrating deep into his back.

A _crack_ split the silence, followed by several more. Soyuznik peeked over his cover to find Sokolov backpedalling towards him. As soon as she was in range, his tail shot out and wrapped around her waist, yanking her behind his cover. A second later, two discs thunked into the metal walls of the broken dropship. "We need weapon," Sokolov stated desperately. Soyuznik glanced down at the motion tracker. Five dots… six… closing in on them. Sokolov's eyes locked onto the American soldier's hand, resting atop an electronic lock, light a steady green. In his last moments, he had tried to open the crate, only getting so far as unlocking it. Why? What was in there?

Sokolov grimaced and gently nudged the body aside, wincing as it thumped unceremoniously onto the metal floor. She hefted the lid open, and simply stared for a moment. Soyuznik had no idea what the thing inside was, but it had Sokolov's eyes wide open. She touched a small screen which was mounted to the long pillar of an object. It flickered on a steady blue, displaying some numbers and several white dots like the one on the motion tracker. The dead soldier's helmet lit up on its own, and Sokolov gasped. She removed her own head protection and pressed it into Soyuznik's hands. "You hold," she said, oddly calm. She carefully reached into the crate and picked up the object, cradling it as if it were a newborn child, then plucked the dead soldier's helmet from his head and slipped it on.

The object was huge, and bulky, and there seemed no way it could be a weapon, but Sokolov clutched a handle on the top of it and an odd trigger at the back, which somewhat resembled the brake lever on a bicycle. There was also a huge box attached to the bottom, with a string of bullets leading out of it and into the main body of the gun.

Sokolov tightened the helmet's straps and grinned maniacally as she flipped the visor down over her eyes. The white dots on the gun's computer were present on her HUD now. Small boxes flashed readouts to her, detecting multiple energy surges at the locations of the dots. Plasma casters. Somehow, probably due to their species' history together, Soyuznik saw this coming from miles away. As soon as Sokolov began standing and readying her massive weapon, he Spartan-kicked the metal lid of the heavy weapons crate hard enough to snap its hinges. The piece of metal flew into the dropship's wall with a heavy _clang_ , bouncing off at an angle, where it was caught by the Xenomorph directly in front of Sokolov. Six plasma bolts struck the thick metal one after another, the last two melting holes in the five-inch-thick steel.

Soyuznik threw the metal down and dropped to the floor, clearing the way for Sokolov. She unleashed a roar of maniacal laughter as she pressed the trigger down, swinging the gun in slow sweeps as the automated targeting kicked in. The bullets sought out their targets like angry bees, and Sokolov laughed again at the thought of how much American money was burning with every second of sustained fire. "I feel just like American!" she cried joyously. The dots were scattering; the Predators were retreating. The _Predators_ were retreating. "God bless America! Sing national anthem with me, Soyuznik. _Oh say, can you see!_ I forget rest! Ahahaha!"

Sokolov began marching, taking careful steps forward so as not to be bowled over by the sustained kickback. The ammo counter on her HUD had hit 384, from the initial 500 rounds. Soyuznik shook his head at the sheer destructive force of the weapon; he had no doubt it had been intended for his kind – and truth be told, his kind would be decimated when faced with such a device. He watched two halves of a Predator materialise from thin air, a jagged, green-soaked tear separating its waist from its torso where the gun had passed through it.

A blue bolt and a disc whizzed towards them from opposite directions, but Soyuznik had been keeping a careful eye out for exactly this. With his kind's natural reflexes, he tackled Sokolov to the ground. The gunfire let up for barely half a second – probably to ensure the Xeno wasn't caught in the uncontrolled tumble onto the ground. But Sokolov rolled onto her back and resumed her onslaught immediately, throwing one Predator against a wall looking like Swiss cheese, and the second one only had time to stumble before its own Smart Disc came back to it. A stray bullet from the Smartgun clipped the glorified Frisbee, sending it slightly off-course, and its owner was unable to catch the deadly weapon in time. Soyuznik cringed when its head flopped onto the floor, followed by its body a few seconds later. An American might have taken the time to point out that was the definition of going out like a jackass, but Sokolov didn't know the expression, and thus merely continued grinning madly as the bullets kept raining down upon their enemies.

Soyuznik shook his head and hauled her to her feet, careful not to interrupt her… 'aim'. He half-dragged her back to the ship, which was whirring steadily by now. "I hate to let favourite American go, but you hold." Had Soyuznik possessed visible eyes, they would have widened at the massive hunk of carbon fibre and lightweight alloys being plopped into his hands. Despite the background sounds of the ship, the room seemed completely silent while lacking the constant roar of gunfire. Sokolov placed her borrowed helmet on the floor, resting Soyuznik's tail atop it to steady it, then ran into the cockpit. Soyuznik's motion tracker beeped insistently, and he knew he had no choice but to ignore the nervous hammering of his heart and squeeze the trigger.

Sprays of green filled the hangar once more as the floor lurched beneath him, the entry hatch still gaping open so he could fire. The ship began rising, and Sokolov reappeared, reclaiming her own Russian-branded helmet and plopping it on her head. "Soyuznik hold on. Things get little bit… spacey now." The shuttle's automatic launching procedures had been activated, and it was now descending into a rather large recess in the hangar floor. A heavy bulkhead door resided at the bottom, a thick window revealing it was all that stood between them and the vacuum of space.

Soyuznik understood, and threw down his weapon in favour of holding on to the ceiling-mounted handrails. The Smartgun would do him now good now anyway; the pit-like recess had cut off his line of fire. Sokolov leaned out the entry hatch, gripping a wall-mounted handrail to steady herself, her fingers brushing upon a large, red lever. A _thump_ shook the shuttle as something hit the roof. The Predators were relentless. Sokolov gripped the big red handle and heaved. It didn't budge. It was only meant to be used in emergencies, so naturally it was made to be pulled with both hands, to make sure you were totally-absolutely sure and it wasn't an accident. Soyuanik grabbed her forearm and shoved, successfully aiding her in yanking the lever down.

The doors screeched open below them alongside mournful, repetitive alarms, and the rush of air swiftly followed. Sokolov lurched forward, but managed to stay within the shuttle thanks to a certain alien's strong grip still on her forearm. Soyuznik hauled her back inside, and sighed gratefully when she slammed her hand on the button which would close the shuttle's entry hatch.

The Xenomorph cocked his head in a mixture of confusion and fear when he noticed the shuttle was now spinning around him. He twitched his tail, and instantly regretted it as his body began rotating slowly. His heart was pounding; he didn't understand. He was floating. The ship was still making dizzying circles around him, supply crates bumping pathetically into his twitching limbs. Then the ship slowly stopped spinning, and Sokolov re-emerged from the cockpit. Soyuznik couldn't turn to face her – every movement sent him into sways and movements he didn't like. He began panicking. Was it a trap? Was this the part where the human killed him?

But then a soft, fleshy hand was lain gently on his forearm, and Soyuznik nearly had a heart attack when Sokolov effortlessly nudged him over to the opposite wall, where he immediately latched onto the closest handrail. He was weightless. That, or the human had suddenly gained godly strength. "Small ship, no gravity," Sokolov explained with an apologetic smile, one of her arms looped around a handrail of her own to keep her anchored to the wall. "I set course now. Ship take care of rest. Then we wait." Soyuznik dared not move for fear of setting himself into another dizzying spin, despite the handhold. Sokolov shook her head at him and elegantly pushed off the wall with her feet, sending her floating gracefully through the air towards the cockpit, like she was swimming.

However, hours later when Soyuznik would work up the courage to loosen his grip on the now-warped metal, he would be very distraught to find that being in zero gravity was not like swimming. At all.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Days after the incident, on the far away planet of Altin, a soldier and a scientist were sitting side by side on a comfortable couch within a cosy little cabin.

"Okay, serious question though," the soldier began, "is Sal horny like, all the time? Advena wants sex basically every night, and I want to know if it's a problem." Tyler gave a noise somewhere between a snort and a chuckle.

"Jacob, that sounds like something most men would consider the opposite of a problem. Why do you always come to me for shit like this anyway?"

"Uh, maybe because you're one of the two only other people here who sleeps Xenos? I mean, I'm not exactly brave enough to start up the local Alien-Shaggers Anonymous."

"Touché."

"Jacob!" Jeica's voice barked over his radio. "You'd better be in uniform!" He quickly snatched the device off his vest – for he indeed was in uniform; just because nothing had threatened their very existence on that day didn't mean he should neglect his duty.

"Yeah, I'm suited up. Is there trouble?"

"Get to the spaceport now. Take any backup you can afford to grab, but don't even think about taking a second longer than you need to."

"Moving. Talk to me," Jake informed her as he barged out the door. Tyler stood curiously and followed, albeit at a slower pace, as he was unarmed and unprotected.

"Unidentified ship is approaching our orbit. Tiny bloody thing wasn't picked up by our long-range. It's too small for substantial voyages, so it must have come from nearby. For some reason that we won't mention, we lack orbital defences, so we're going to have to set up a firing squad on the asphalt. You're leading it."

"Understood. Have we got a ping on the identity?"

"It's a Reveles ship; we didn't authorise any of them for launch, so it's rogue. Could potentially be a poor attempt at a Trojan horse."

Jake jogged up to the chain link fence which bordered the spaceport's asphalt and quickly ducked inside the gate. He spotted several marines standing by within nearby hangars, waiting to rush out as soon as the ship landed. He took up a similar position in the dark recess of a garage which housed the colony's Power Loaders. "Ship's broken atmosphere. You should have visual in five seconds." Jake peered upwards into the sky, and true to his superior's word, caught sight of a tiny blip in the sea of azure. The tiny dot was speeding towards them, its belly turning to negate its speed with maximum air resistance. Something fell off it, and was sent spiralling towards the ground, leaving a trail of smoke behind it.

Jake grimaced. Even if they were potential enemies, the occupants of that ship would not be having a good time; the maintenance shuttle wasn't meant for re-entry, it was built to fix ships and stations in deep space. One of the stabiliser thrusters detonated, rocking the vessel considerably. Somehow, the tail thrusters managed to keep it straight enough to stay on course. Jake raised his radio to his face.

"Lieutenant, we're going to need a fire crew here. The shuttle's coming in hot – like, explode-y hot, not under attack hot."

"Understood. They've been dispatched, but they're to remain outside until you have the situation under control."

The laughably-small vehicle wobbled unsteadily closer to them, moments away from impact on the asphalt. Up close, Jake knew immediately this couldn't be a Trojan horse; it was too small to carry anything threatening. No reason to be careless however.

With an ungraceful belly-flop and a tremendous cacophony, the egg-shaped vessel hit the ground, bouncing and skidding until it was dangerously close to crashing into a building. Luckily, its weight was substantial enough to dig it into the ground, kicking up chunks of concrete as it gouged deep holes in the smooth tarmac. Finally, it rocked to a halt, and the order was given.

"Move!" Jake commanded, then he charged out from his cover. The hatch was easy to locate, and he immediately dropped into a crouch before it, nodding in satisfaction when six more marines and two Xenos fell in behind him, all armed with Pulse Rifles which they trained on the entry hatch.

The small circle of metal creaked open with a hiss of depressurisation, making the marines tense. The doorway would normally have been set into the vessel's side, but seeing as it was listing, the hatch was sticking up straight into the air, making the vehicle look like some kind of ungainly, lopsided submarine. A single hand shot up out of the smoking wreckage.

"Privet Americans!" a woman hailed them in a thick Russian accent. "Do not shoot! I bring offering of friendship!" The hand disappeared, and a moment later an enormous weapon toppled out of the small entryway and onto the ground. Jake glanced at it briefly, recognising it as the uncommonly-deployed Smart Gun. Boisterous laughter erupted from within what could be likened to a metal coffin. The hand reappeared and latched onto the lip of the doorway, followed shortly by another. A tall, well-muscled woman in Russian fatigues hoisted herself out, and blinked in surprise. "Eh, Soyuznik, friends of yours?"

Jake couldn't help the look of annoyed confusion from crossing his face, despite the fact that the other marines were looking to him for guidance. That is, until, an elongated, eyeless, black head popped out next to the Russian. Immediately, it sprang out of the interior and flopped clumsily onto the ground, taking large gulps of fresh air whilst lying on its side. The Russian slid down the curved hull and landed neatly on her booted feet, carrying a bag of gear at her side. She cast an amused glance at her alien companion before turning back to the colonists whose guns were still trained on her. "He be okay soon, I think," she chuckled.

Jake sighed and lowered his weapon, and the others quickly did the same. This ought to be good.

 **A/N: Obligatory disclaimer for the groups I could potentially have offended in this chapter. Number one, as much as it pains me, for the sake of consistency in the Universe, all of the remaining 'countries' hate each other, but more on that later. Point being, I love America, some of the characters do not. Their views are not mine. Yada yada yada. So as much as it pains me to write such unpatriotic insults to the US of A, I must push onward, for the story.  
Secondly, I hate to stereotype, but there's something about the broken-English Russian accent which I find equal parts adorable and epic. I know not all Russians talk like this. But hey, at least I only brought vodka up once, and it was ironically too, so, you know…**

 **On another note, I plan on adding a couple more chapters like this over the course of the story, i.e. based around other characters in other places, to give y'all a glimpse at what the universe looks like, or to show off the effects the cast is having on the galaxy at large. If you don't like this idea and just want to see Jake 'n' Vena 24/7, then just scream at me a bunch and I'll probably get the picture.**

 **CrazyBirdMan59 out.**


	6. Status Quo

**A/N: I have a plethora of reasons as to why it took me so long to get this chapter out, but it's not my life story you're here to read, so I'll spare you the excuses.  
Thank you to everyone who has offered to help me with my Google-translated Russian (I swear I tried to teach myself, it's just so time-consuming to learn a new language, and according to science the older you get, the harder it is for your brain to make good connections and whatnot. Can't argue with science), but the four or so words in this chapter will be the last for a good while.**

"Da. Tri dnya? Khorosho." Akilina Sokolov stepped away from the clunky radio set, prompting Tyler to look up from the computer it was hooked up to.

"All well?" he asked curiously, more to find out if he'd been correct in his setup of the device than out of actual concern for their guest; reaching any form of Russian authority had been a chore considering both the range and security-dodging required.

"All well," she confirmed. "Take three day to get here." Tyler nodded and began carefully unplugging various pieces of equipment. Sokolov wanted to protest, but didn't quite know how to word the question, and instead ended up just watching him absently, brow furrowed in concentration. Tyler watched the entire dilemma out the corner of his eye as he worked, and finally paused to address her.

"It's a security risk; I had to do a pretty sketchy job of the whole thing in order to get a good connection fast. I'll put it back together whenever you need it, but for the moment, it's probably best for all of us if we don't have a backdoor into our communications which can be accessed from halfway across the galaxy." Sokolov nodded, finding it easier than having to grate out a sentence in English. She had to admit, it was a lot of effort to go through for one person; they could have just as easily told her she was stranded there instead of putting themselves at risk.

Briefly, she found herself wondering. From what she had heard, these people were supposed to be loud, selfish, paranoid and violent. Were these not Americans? Of course they were – Americans are the only ones who speak American.

" _Korporatsia,_ " she muttered under her breath. Of course it made sense. The Corporation would want nothing more than to divide humanity up like sheep. Collaboration meant cooperation, cooperation meant organisation, organisation meant resistance. As long as humanity was scattered and at one another's throats, they wouldn't be able to stop to think about their common enemy; Korporatsia, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

"On the topic of tech, I was curious," Tyler spoke up again, "there was a Motion Tracker in your ship. Ancient technology – and I _mean_ ancient. Centuries old. Is that stuff normal for your military?" Sokolov narrowed her eyes and let out a moody puff of breath.

"Watch it, American. Do not insult Russians."

" _You_ watch it. And don't call me 'American'. I'm just curious is all." Sokolov reluctantly backed down, seeing as this man was helping her get back to her people anyway. Would probably pay to be nice.

"Standard issue," she admitted, "in case of Xenomorph. Very useful. Though not always work."

"Well, that'll be because it's not running on ultrasound like the newer models are," Tyler explained. "I think somebody once told me the older ones detect micro-changes in air density, but that sounds like bullshit to me. It just doesn't work scientifically. I'd love to pull it apart and find out for myself regardless though – not without replacing it with one of ours first, of course."

"You give me American device for Russian garbage? I consider it."

"Well," Tyler grunted as he flung a bag of spare cables into the corner, "you have three days to make up your mind."

"Sarcasm, American. I accept deal. Have fun with rubbish motion sensor." Tyler grumbled quietly as he brushed past her, pausing to stick a reprimanding finger in her face.

"Don't," he growled, "call me 'American'." Sokolov chuckled and watched him leave, before deciding she should do the same, lest she be discovered and accused of espionage by a passer-by. She found herself wondering how Soyuznik would be doing; he was home now, after all. A place full of his family, safe for him to be free of cages and cruel experiments. Just as well too, as even though she had been fully intending to take him back to Russian space with her, she had a feeling things wouldn't have worked out very well, especially if the Corporation caught wind of it. At the same time, she held the burning desire to stay with him and learn – learn about him, his species, this newfound desire for peace and cooperation. Alas, it was not something she was willing to put up with a bunch of Americans for, not necessarily because she didn't like them – indeed, this particular bunch had her attention and the potential to grow on her – more because she hated the language they spoke and how hard it was to get her thoughts across.

She found herself wandering into the small bunker room which the Americans had allocated her to serve as her quarters, and felt the overwhelming urge to slide her hand under her neat stack of gear and clasp a sleek, valuable object which resided beneath, kept secret from her hosts. She cradled the wrist device in her hands as she hummed in thought, staring at her reflection in the shiny metal absently. The aliens who employed the devices had been very near this planet, and obviously held a grudge with Xenomorphs, which happened to be one of the two dominant species in the colony. She could warn the Americans, but that would entail sharing Russian resources, something which would probably get her court-marshalled, or worse. Then again, she could easily gain some American resources in return – for example, Tyler had insinuated he was good at pulling things apart and studying them, perhaps if a certain alien device were to fall into his hands he could shed some light on the creatures and their technological capabilities. In the end, her own words won her over; _Collaboration. Collaboration means cooperation, cooperation means organisation, organisation means resistance._ And, she decided, it's about time someone offered the Korporatsia some of that.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

" _Russian_ ," Advena stated blankly as she pushed some scrambled eggs around her plate with a fork. " _Never heard of it_." Across the small booth from her, Jake raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Really? Not even a passing mention? Surely _someone_ would have bad-mouthed them within earshot of you." The duo were seated in the comfortable padding of a small curved booth next to a window overlooking the quiet town streets. Warm morning sunlight filtered in, casting a square of white onto the pristine square of wood which separated them as their table. Advena was avoiding eating the yellow mess on her plate as subtly as possible, not wanting to ruin the pleasant moment they'd been having by telling her partner it was disgusting.

Advena shook her head gently, confirming to him that she had no idea what the word meant. "It's uh, a sub-species of humans, if you will. Just like your kind have Runners, Warriors, Praetorians, Queens and all the rest, humanity has nationalities like American, Russian, Chinese and Indian. There used to be hundreds, but a lot of them chose to merge with the Federation, so there's only a dozen or so left nowadays."

" _So… all the different 'nationalities' have different roles in society? And your sub-species are in charge of researching us Xenos, which is why we haven't seen anyone else around?_ "

"No. I mean yeah, kind of." Jake sighed, desperately wishing he had some back-up right then, but he had insisted they spend some more one-on-one time together, as he was disturbed they hadn't gone out on any dates together bar those which involved high-stress situations and massacring rebels. "No one nation is strictly better at one thing than another. We're all the same really, we just live differently and call ourselves by different names. Well, okay, there might be _some_ genetic variation between us, but nothing quite as drastic as the difference between a Runner and a Spitter."

" _I'm actually rather curious. Are Xenomorphs the first aliens humans have come into contact with?_ "

"If I were to go into any kind of detail about that, it would be a long story," Jake chuckled. Advena simply gestured at the lazy early-morning murmur of the café around them with a small grin tugging at her lips, before cupping a mug of coffee between her hands.

" _We have time_." Jake shrugged at the valid argument and launched into his explanation.

"So, uh, a long, long, _long_ time ago, humanity breached the barrier that was our home system and entered the galaxy at large. The first aliens we ever came across were on a planet with one continent full of tribal-stage sentients. Aside from the massive culture shock which came with landing big space-faring vessels next to a straw hut filled with rock-wielding cavemen, some pretty nasty stuff ensued. Bear in mind that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was solely responsible for all major space ventures at this point. Extensive studies with… questionable methods ensued of the new species, and that's when the Federation pops in."

Jake paused to ensure she was still listening, and was satisfied at her rapt expression. "They basically kidnapped the research crew and waited for the search and rescue team to show up and investigate. When it happened, the aliens demanded to talk to our leaders. We sent over some Weyland representatives, as Earth doesn't have a sole leader, so instead we sent the leaders of the corporation which was in charge of the ventures. It made sense, but began a pretty stupid spiral of power which ultimately led to the Corporation you see today. Anyway, they basically told us to stop fucking around with the tribals and join their government, as they were the sole power in the galaxy. As a Federation, we would still maintain control of our species, so long as we operated within their overarching laws. It sounded like a good deal, so we joined up. That was the best decision of our collective history as rapid technological advancement ensued, particularly in space exploration departments. The Federation always felt uneasy about us, as we made contact with them using pretty low-tier tech. Most other species in the Federation were at a much higher tech level when they joined up. As a result, the Federation kept a close eye on us, cue the next disaster.

Weyland-Yutani never stopped their genetic-engineering, controlled mutagen, weapons, artificial intelligence or population control research, of course. Far too profitable. They merely did their work in the shadows, keeping quite well-hidden for many decades, maybe even a century. In the end, they were exposed, but the Corporation knows how to manipulate a crowd. They sold it as the Federation trying to strip us of our freedom by taking away anything we could fight them with, that way we would be forced to obey them or be crushed. At this point only a few superpowers were left of Earthen countries; Russia, USA, China and India being the most prominent; the rest just kinda melted together under the banner of 'humanity', apart from those still on Earth, that is. It's hard to maintain your sense of national identity when everyone in your family since your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was born in space. Not America though. As the Wey-Yu's nation of origin, we stood up for their freedom and independence. Eventually sick of it, the Federation kicked the US out in the hopes that a few centuries starved of technology would set us straight – meaning they cut off trade and all major contact with us. Unfortunately, the harsh action prompted the other superpowers to leave as well, fearing that we were right in saying they were there to control everything. Since then Federation Humanity has qualified for a seat on the Senate, and all fears of power-hungry aliens have been put to rest for them.

On a side note, that's also how the Wey-Yu has such power. All the major manufacturing companies stayed in the Federation, except for one. And being the only provider of tech and advancement to the outcast humans, it grew, and grew, and grew."

"Ironic, isn't it?" Tyler's pessimistic drawl interjected. "The Americans were so afraid of being controlled, they gave all their freedom to the Wey-Yu to prevent it. Meanwhile those prim assholes in the Federation are enjoying the high life of extended life spans, life-changing tech, lack of poverty and tolerance towards people different from themselves. Boy do I wish I was born in there instead of out here in this shit-show."

"Tyler we're having a da – we're trying to spend some quality time together here," Jake complained. "How did you even find us?" Rather than answer, Tyler simply nodded his head towards the café's counter, where Sal was accepting two steaming travel mugs from the barista.

"Just thought I'd hop over and say there's some important shit going on to do with a certain second species of dangerous aliens you should know about."

"Our Russian friend shared some more info?" Jake inquired curiously, momentarily forgetting his annoyance at being interrupted.

"And a whole lot more. I'll let you two get back to your date – you can talk to Jeica about it whenever you're ready." Jake watched the man saunter off to rejoin his boyfriend at the exit, before accepting his mug and leaving together.

" _You hesitated,_ " Advena hissed privately. Jake blinked in confusion, about to ask her what she was talking about. " _You were going to say 'date', but you hesitated._ " He sighed and stared down at his own mug of steaming coffee for a few moments, struggling to put it into a way which the hot-headed alien would understand.

"I just… being around Tyler got me thinking that maybe… maybe we shouldn't be so open about our relationship. If you think Tyler's had it bad for being gay, then you don't want to know what happens to interspecial couples."

" _I thought you said humans and the Federation had been cut off from one another. How could there even_ be _any interspecies couples?_ "

"Well, through aliens like you guys. Non-Federation aliens; new aliens. For example, we contacted the Arcturians before the Federation did. Sure, they quickly ditched us for the Senate, but the Russians, the Russians have a pretty good relationship with the Karartiin. Good enough that they refused to join the Feds. Some of the other nations might have contacted aliens too."

" _You don't know?_ "

"Well, no. We don't really hear a lot from the other nations. They were smart enough to spread out a bit more and cut off contact. The Russians on the other hand, the damn stubborn bastards wouldn't find their own corner of the galaxy and kept arguing that they were here first. There's literally a line on the star map separating our territories from one another – we're that close."

" _And, instead of the proximity bringing you closer together…_ "

"It made us hate each other even more. Yeah, big surprise there. Not our fault though, they practically tried to passive-aggressively invade us. They keep wandering into our damn space as well – it's a miracle we haven't started a war."

" _So… the whole taboo aliens thing… is that why Parker was so grossed out when we told him?_ " Jake nodded.

"Yeah, probably."

" _Will he… tell anyone?_ " she asked cautiously. Her mind flickered to the scars, both physical and emotional, which marred their homosexual friend, and she shuddered. She didn't want to feel those scars being carved into her lover, too.

"Nah," Jake dismissed her nonchalantly. He was so sure of himself that Advena had to relax her body and flash a reassured smile. "The Resistance needs us, not only because they need every able-bodied soul they can get their hands on, but we also happen to be one of the few dozen super-awesome kick-ass elite special units of psychic humans and Xenos. The original pair at that." Advena did the emotional equivalent of an eye-roll at the childish spiel, but the wolfish grin stayed fixed on her face until she had to awkwardly tilt her head back in order to take a sip of coffee. The taste was slightly unpleasant to her, but it sent a nice – and worryingly addictive – tingle of energy down her spine which had her craving more.

" _This is nice,_ " Advena admitted after a companionable lull in the conversation. " _We should do stuff like this more. Just relax, bring a few friends along maybe._ " A pang of discomfort plagued Jake at that, and Advena was both touched and annoyed that the reason why was locked away behind his mental defences. He didn't want her to find out, lest it spoil her fun too.

Jake had, in fact, suddenly thought of Verah, and all the other Unbonded Xenomorphs. It didn't feel right to him, enjoying the company of his Bonded while so many others were stranded in loneliness against their will. Every moment he spent like this, they spent in frustration at having to watch others enjoy the thing they had been craving for so long. He resolved to just hope Jeica would clear their mission soon.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Jeica demanded with a furious gesture, swatting the air with an arm in frustration. Her arms returned to their position clasped behind her back a second later while she paced up and down the bunker's command room. Parker, on the other hand, leaned idly against the locked doorway, as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"I'm a lieutenant, Jeica. The Resistance needs me to lead people. As much as I love helping out around here, as far as the generals are concerned, I'm just sitting on my hands. I think we both know you're quite capable of leading these people without me." Jeica stopped, narrowed her eyes, and jabbed an accusatory finger at the man.

"You know that's not the point. I can lead _marines_ , in a _marine_ hierarchy. You're supposed to be teaching me how the Resistance works. How am I supposed to –"

"Tyler knows the ins and outs," Parker interrupted her, patting the air in a 'calm down' motion. "We were good friends back in the day; I taught him all there is to know. I'm sure he will be more than happy to point out everything you're doing wrong with an upturned nose and snide remark."

"God damn it Parker, don't make me laugh – I'm trying to be pissed at you." Parker's own lips tugged up into a smirk at those words, and his tone twisted into one more playful to match.

"Well, shuttle arrives tomorrow, so if you've got any questions… here I am."

"Just one for now," Jeica said, much calmer now – though whether it was because of the sound reasoning or the playful attitude, she wasn't sure. "If you do plan on leaving, then I'm going to be an official lieutenant before that, right? Otherwise we might have some problems here."

"Hm, that _is_ the plan, but Tyler should have gotten back to us with the paperwork by now. Maybe we should go check up on him?"

"The kid _does_ have a habit of getting sidetracked," Jeica agreed. Parker thumbed the door control, and after a sweeping gesture, the two strode out into the bunker beyond. It didn't take them long to reach Tyler's abode, Jeica having fired off the occasional question as they walked. Once there, she gave the heavy hatch a gentle knock, eying up the half-built structure which hugged the crashed ship's side. It looked to be a small garage of sorts. Maybe Tyler planned on owning a car so he didn't have to walk the distance to town all the time?

The hatch creaked open, revealing Tyler clad in his stained lab coat, an annoyed frown on his lips – probably at being interrupted, knowing him.

"Yeah?" was all the two lieutenants at the door got from him as he leaned against the doorframe, trying to look as disinterested as possible. Jeica knew enough by now to see through the guise; Tyler really did enjoy his time here, even if his reasons for staying were limited.

"You have some paperwork due in, Mister Doelle," Jeica chided him as a teacher would a tardy student. Tyler's brow almost creased in confusion, but thankfully for his pride, Parker's presence was enough to tip him off to what she was referring to.

"Well golly gee, sorry ma'am," Tyler drawled with an eye roll, "guess I was just so busy I forgot to hand it in. If Harlor thought _your_ to-do list was tedious…" Tyler let that one hang as he disappeared back inside his ship, returning a moment later with a stack of paper in his arms. "A piece of advice: just throw all this in a draw somewhere and read up on it with a PDA – it's much easier on the eyes." Jeica glanced down at the first page as the weighty pile was shifted into her arms. It was neatly set out, quite organised for a rebellion. The top of the page held the Resistance emblem, followed by her own faction insignia, which was an eagle, eyes to the sky, wings bursting out at its sides as it prepared to soar upwards. She nodded approvingly – that was badass enough for her. Below it, however, was her faction's name.

"The Saints… of America?" Jeica demanded. Tyler just shrugged.

"Well, I thought the Resistance could do with a bit of propaganda. I was actually thinking that your faction could head a campaign which people would just eat up. Everyone knows the Wey-Yu is corrupt, all you gotta do is convince them that we're the solution – that we're the ones who are gonna put things back to the way they should be. The Xenomorphs make a pretty good addition, seeing as it promotes the peace and prosperity between people and yada yada yada."

"The Saints of America," Jeica repeated thoughtfully. "You know, now that you mention it, it _does_ kind of fit. And hey, if the Corporation is going to use propaganda against us, we might as well give 'em a taste of their own medicine." She briefly glanced over the rest of the summery. Abbreviation: SoA, faction leader: Lieutenant Jeica Smith, colony: Altin.

"So yeah, congratulations on your promotion, lieutenant. You are now officially the leader of the first interspecial battalion in several centuries. Do us proud. And get the hell off my front porch already; I've got work to do." Jeica chuckled at the playfully-biting tone and tucked the papers under her arm, before about-facing and marching back to the colony, Parker close in tow.

"So… how are you planning on handling things from here on out?" Parker asked curiously, though Jeica could pick out apprehension in his voice. He was worried for her. Cute.

"Well, I figured first thing's first, we've got to pick up some Royal Jelly, maybe find a Queen if we're lucky. That'll only take a small strike force, considering we've got Xenos to back us up, so I might just bring Jacob and a few others I can trust. From there, I'll root out the ones who don't have the Resistance's best interests at heart and… actually, what _do_ I do with them? Turn them away? Lock them up? I'm sure as hell not gonna initiate a mass execution." Jeica turned to Parker, curious for his input. After all, the Resistance could have encountered a similar dilemma before.

"Sometimes…" he began slowly, not daring to return her gaze, "we have to do things we aren't proud of. For the greater good."

"No," Jeica growled flatly. "That's something the Wey-Yu would say. I'm done with that shit. We build this Resistance on good morals and humanity, or we don't even bother trying."

"You don't have the resources to house fifty socioeconomic dead-weights on this planet, let alone a hundred, or two hundred. So what _are_ you going to do then? There are no good options here, Jeica. Every choice you make will always hurt someone – I thought you of all people would be used to that by now."

"And I thought _you_ of all people would understand the need to be better than those we wish to fight." Parker shrugged nonchalantly and slipped his hands into his pocket, not intent on making an argument of it.

"I'm not gonna tell you your business. But if it were down to me, I'd put my own people first. Anyway, I've got to have a chat with the Generals regarding my lack of faction to return to, so I'll let ya mull it over in peace. Good luck, Lieutenant Smith." Jeica's stride slowed to a halt, leaving her standing on the paved road with her hands on her hips, staring peevishly at Parker's receding back. She didn't consider their conversation over, but she wasn't willing to chase after the rebel like some stray dog, so she blew out an annoyed puff of air and simply checked her watch. She had enough time for a coffee before she was set to meet up with Soyuznik. She'd taken it upon herself to show him around the place and make sure he knew how to fit in. She made her way over to her favourite café, thinking deeply about her plans for the next week as she went.

First, they would have to offload their foreign guest before doing anything drastic – not because she didn't trust the Russian, more because she wanted to be here to see her off, rather than away on a mission. If anything, it was her own people she didn't trust. Who knows how they would react when a Russian cruiser dropped into orbit without her nearby? After that, she would take Jacob, Advena, Mozart and a few other marines she could scrape up to find some Royal Jelly – she would have to talk to Tyler about potential locations to raid tomorrow. Next up was separating the loyalists from the rebels, and then… she would make a decision. If she was even going to consider Parker's option, she would have to trick the loyalists into thinking they were going to get out alive… make them think she was naïve. Perhaps rigging a small ship to remotely detonate, then offering it as an escape for all those who wanted to return to the Wey-Yu? Not that it mattered, she told herself; it would never come to that. She would find another way.

Jeica suddenly did a double-take and backpedalled slightly. Just outside the café in a small island of grass amongst the sea of pavement, a lone tree stood proudly. It could have been Oak if not for the odd swirling branches and bright pink, orange and yellow leaves. One might have thought it mid-autumn by looking at the plant, but it was in fact mid-summer – the tree just happened to bear those colours all year round. Ironically, that made it an evergreen by principle, even though its leaves were never green. Besides the tree, there were a few park benches facing the rows of buildings – mostly shops in this area – where a few birds hung around, keeping a sharp eye out for any snatch-able lunches. Below the tree, however, in the shade of its sturdy mahogany branches, were the two figures which caught her eye.

A Xeno who Jeica didn't recognise – though that wasn't saying much, considering her ability to recognise the aliens hadn't caught on with her like it had with Jake – was lounging on its belly like an oversized cat, looking uncomfortable despite its leisurely position. Next to it, leaning against the trunk of the tree, was a woman clad in Russian military fatigues, arms folded across her chest while the peak of an American marine's cap was pulled over her eyes to shield them from the sun, obviously having a mid-afternoon snooze.

"Howdy," Jeica greeted them, stepping closer. Soyuznik slowly raised his head, the lack of any other action confirming her suspicions of him having been watching her the whole time discreetly. It wouldn't be hard, considering nobody could see a Xeno's eyes. Akilina Sokolov stirred and lazily pushed the cap up off her eyes so she could stare at the newcomer.

"Privet," she returned cautiously, unsure what to make of the semi-friendly figure. Jeica nodded, assuming that was her way of saying hello.

"I thought I might give your friend a tour of the place, seeing as he's going to be staying with us. Hopefully make him a little more comfortable – he looks a little on edge." Akilina simply shrugged, so Jeica turned to the Xeno in question. "So… uh… Sputnik?"

"Soyuznik," Akilina corrected her.

"Right, right. Soyuznik. Shall we?" Rather than answer, he peeled himself off the soft grass and slowly rose onto all fours, hesitating before drawing himself to his full height on two feet. "You don't mind if I grab a coffee first, do you?" Soyuznik shook his head and followed her into the café across the paved road, the fact that Akilina stretched and tagged along behind them not lost on her.

Soyuznik hung back once they entered the sparsely-populated café, opting to observe his surroundings rather than partake in them. In a corner booth, he spotted a human and Xeno sitting across from one another, chatting leisurely while sipping from identical Styrofoam cups. At the counter, the cashier was all smiles, asking Jeica what she'd like today, a badge on his breast proclaiming cheerily 'I'm a telepath!'. When the kitchen door swung open to make way for a waiter, Soyuznik caught sight of one of his kin, dressed almost comically in an apron and what looked like a white cloak over its thankfully-spineless back. It held a knife in one hand, dicing some vegetables, while its tail, almost with a mind of its own, dipped itself in some bubbly liquid, dried itself off on a towel and began slicing some meat thinly with its bladed tip.

It seemed… too perfect. Soyuznik had to wonder how long the two species had been together to include each other so perfectly and so synchronously. It couldn't have been more than a few months, judging by the fact there were still non-telepaths. It could be a trap; designed to lull him into a false sense of security. But then why would the other Xenos be cooperating? And what was the point of tricking him anyway?

Then again… not all of the humans _were_ so synchronous, which would make sense if they had only been together for a short time. He remembered earlier that day how he'd seen a man trip over nothing and fall on his ass after seeing a Xenomorph slip around a street corner. At the time, Soyuznik had thought nothing of it, but now, it only made sense. Humans were still scared of his kind. Oddly enough, that thought relaxed him a little. That was natural, at least. The rest of the colony, however, just seemed all so strange to him.

He made another round of the room, and sure enough, he noticed a pattern in the seating. The Xenomorph and their Bonded were in the far corner of the room, with about two people sitting near them. In the other corner of the room, about seven people were eating and chatting quietly, whilst an empty stretch of perfectly-good seating separated the two sides of the room. It was subtle, but the more he looked, the more he noticed the divide. Not just between human and Xenomorph, but between the humans who were comfortable with their alien allies, and the humans who were terrified of them.

One of the humans on the non-Xeno side of the room gave the Bonded human an odd look, before turning back to their companion and speaking in hushed tones, to which the other human nodded, casting an unreadable glance of his own at the duo in the corner.

"Are you alright there?" a soft voice asked, coercing him from his thoughts. His head twitched to the side, drinking in the sight of a plainly-dressed waitress. Using a trick he had picked up in his days of captivity – though, regrettably, back then he had used it for more malicious reasons – he moved his head to indicate where he was looking, despite the fact Xenomorphs had a wide field of view. The waitress was wearing one of the sparkly blue badges exclaiming 'I'm a telepath!'.

" _I am fine… thank you, human._ " Was that right? He felt like he should thank the human for its concern, but often if 'thank you' was said when none was necessary, it was meant in a sarcastic or snarky way. He didn't want to come off as having ill-intent. All his worrying was proven to be for naught, however, when the waitress flashed him a smile and continued on her way, clearly not offended.

Jeica returned moments later with three Styrofoam cups, handing one to Akilina and one to himself, which he hesitantly accepted.

"It's a latte," the lieutenant explained as she ushered them out the door. "Fairly beginner level coffee, in case you want to try some. If you don't like it, you can just toss it, I won't mind."

"Flat white is best, but latte is good too," Akilina put in before taking a sip. She was unusual, Soyuznik had come to realise, more so than he had initially thought when meeting her. She didn't just talk oddly, but she made weird observations, excluded herself from the others, and kept muttering things in a tongue he didn't understand every so often. Apart from that, she was treated oddly too – almost as if she too were an alien in this colony. She attracted the same suspicious, fearful and hateful glances that his kind did. Was she an alien? Maybe, but she was almost identical to a human, so it was a bit of a stretch. He could ask his 'tour guide', he supposed.

Jeica was heading the pack, so her back was turned to him, which meant a physical gesture was out of the question, apart from tapping her on the shoulder, which he was unwilling to do for fear of startling her. He could clear his throat, but that just wouldn't make any sense at all. Maybe he should just start talking and hope it's not rude to do so? Being around humans in such a manner was giving him a headache, he had no idea how the others put up with it; it was almost easier back when their species were still fighting one another.

"Here is where a lot of our people spend their time," Jeica announced, snapping Soyuznik out of his thoughts and bringing his attention to their surroundings. They were on a small grassy hill in the shade of a solitary tree, a rolling slope below them giving way to a flat, barren area with several esoteric stations scattered around. One was a square of padded material ringed in with elastic rope, another was a set of booths overlooking a stretch of land, capped off by several standing targets with a backdrop of thick concrete. A small shack off to the side, near a bunker entrance, was relatively busy compared to the rest of the place – marines would waltz in empty-handed, and come back out with a weapon of some kind. What caught Soyuznik's attention, however, was the synergy between the humans and the Xenos. Here, there were no odd stares, no hateful whispers, only grim determination, smirks, and jibes. One pair appeared to be having an argument of some sort, and Soyuznik feared it would get physical, but the human roared with laughter, slapped their Xeno companion's shoulder good-naturedly, and shouldered a rifle, before the duo made their way over to the shooting range booths. A competition ensued, each warrior trying to best the other in tests of speed, accuracy and efficiency.

Jeica motioned for them to begin walking down, intending on introducing a few of the soldiers to ease his nervousness, and Soyuznik's curiosity convinced him to comply. "Most Xenomorphs chose to continue fighting in order to free the rest of their kind from the Corporation's grasp, so they come here to train. Others decided to throw in the towel and find a more passive way of helping the Resistance, such as construction work and hunting, or even helping us humans get comfortable with our telepathy. Fair enough I say; you guys shouldn't need to fight any longer than you already have. Hell, I wish we didn't have to, but it seems to be the only way we can show things are able to change. The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has built itself into something indomitable; nobody believes we can get rid of them, and so nobody chooses to stand against them. I choose to believe if we kick their corporate shins enough, others will join the fray, and we'll bring them down, one way or another."

"And others believe this is all a pointlessly complicated way of committing suicide," Tyler helpfully added from nearby. Jeica placed her hands on her hips irritably and turned to face him.

"Really?" she demanded with a scowl. They were supposed to be consoling Soyuznik, not adding more stress and fear into his life. The scientist simply shrugged and continued fiddling with what looked like a cannibalised flamethrower atop a table outside the storage shed. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you had something important to work on."

"Funny story, I went to pick up some better tools to crack this alien device, but it turns out we don't have anything with more finesse than a sledgehammer. Thus, I'm making an impromptu micro-solder." Jeica sighed at his matter-of-fact attitude and extended an exasperated arm in his direction.

"This is our resident scientist, Tyler," she introduced him. "God knows what diplomas he has, but he seems to know a little of everything. He's not exactly charismatic though, so if you need anything from him, you'll probably have better luck talking to his Xeno, Sal."

"None actually," Tyler answered nonchalantly as he hefted a gas canister. Jeica cocked her head, unsure of what he was referring to. "I got kicked out of my home and joined the Resistance in my last year of high school. Never made it to college."

"That's actually really worrying."

"'Tis, isn't it?" Tyler cackled maniacally as he finished twisting the dangerous-looking device together. He experimentally clicked the trigger a few times and a tiny flame leapt to life in the thin nozzle which was once a flamethrower's primer. Tyler grinned at his handiwork, shut it off, and pocketed it. "Anyway, I have important things to do, you have a tour to get on with; it's probably time for you to skidaddle." Jeica harrumphed at the disrespect, but otherwise let it slide and turned back to her companions with a sigh.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you two will be wanting to take a look at the Hive-in-progress. Follow me."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jake leapt off the top of a tall, half-destroyed building, explosions rocking the distance and wind whipping past his face. A bright flash split the sky as a ball of fire approached the ground in the distance. He hit the dusty ground in a slide, his sights set on a running target before him. He unleashed half a clip of his SMG, giving the enemy barely enough time to spin around before their body was sent flying backwards in a shower of sparks. He slipped gracefully back onto his feet and kept running, leaping towards the nearest wall and running along its vertical surface with the aid of small thrusters set into the back of his armour. The distant fireball had struck the earth, revealing itself to be a colossal mech suit protected by an orange dome of a shield. The body of the machine split open, allowing a red figure to jump inside, and Jake knew his time was short. He boosted himself off the wall, towards the orange dome and… died in a pathetic fizzle.

'Killed by BOT_06'

"Damn it!" Jake exclaimed, letting his controller fall into his lap in exasperation. "I can never get the timing right on those stupid shields."

" _They disappear as soon as the person inside moves; you just have to predict when they're going to start moving_ ," Advena advised him, her long fingers squirming uncomfortably on the buttons of the much-too-small controller.

"Ugh, this game feels too weird for me. I've always been taught to take things slow, check every corner, maintain visual with your squad – it feels unnatural to play something where you have to act on instinct and rush through everything."

" _I can see where you're coming from. I guess it just feels natural to me, because quick and instinctual is just how Xenomorphs are. Playing this game to you is what learning to be a marine was to me: Unnatural._ " Jake's character respawned, and they continued playing the game for a few more minutes in concentrated silence, before he spoke up again.

"I've been thinking about the hypothetical Queen we're trying to get," he stated suddenly. "And I was wondering what they're like. I've never seen one before, apart from my first Bug Hunt…" They both simultaneously grimaced at the memories, Jake's hand subconsciously scratching at the acid wounds which still scarred his shoulder and upper chest. Neither had really thought or talked about those times much – it wasn't exactly something they were comfortable with. Both parties had suffered heavy losses, and the only thing they could find to be thankful for was the fact Jake hadn't managed to kill himself with his grenade like he'd intended.

Advena had to consider the unspoken request for a while. She'd had two Queens in her lifetime; the one she'd been born to, and the one which adopted her when she was moved to the research colony on which she had impregnated her lover. She briefly wondered if the latter was still alive, because there was nobody else she would rather have leading her people on this colony than her foster mother. With a sad smile, she made her choice.

" _My memories won't be much good to us on this matter; I was far too young, younger than I was in… the last memory I shared with you._ " Jake acknowledged the fact with a grim nod, grateful she was leaving that recent wound be. " _But I can at least try to do her some justice with my words. My mother was the single greatest person I have ever known – oh don't give me that look, you'd –_ " Advena stopped herself before she could finish that sentence with 'you'd say the same about your own mother', steeled herself, then continued. " _She was always so kind and nurturing to us, often going days on end without sleep in order to give all her children the love they needed. She never let us give up, she always kept us strong, never let us hurt one another or scrabble to survive. She raised us all to be a true family, so much that when one or two Xenomorphs had a chance to escape alone, they left it and withstood the pain and humiliation of their experiments. Her will is what let us break out like we did. I just wish she had still been around to see it… she would have been so proud of us, even if we did all die. Except me, that came a little later._ "

'Press A to Respawn' had been flashing insistently on both their screens for a good while now, neither of them having been paying attention to the game. The Xeno's monologue hadn't exactly been informative in they way Jake had hoped, but he appreciated her opening up to him on the matter, so leaned over and wrapped his arms around her regardless. " _It hurts, knowing what happened to her,_ " Advena whimpered, nuzzling closer into his grip. " _That despite all her kindness and valour, she ended up dead. Murdered. Gone. All for nothing, a pointless cause in a pointless war, if we can even call it that. But after all this time, the pain's dulled and I understand what happened and why it did. I know your pain isn't dulled yet Jacob, but whenever you feel like you can handle it, I have more memories of your parents I can show you. For closure._ "

Jake took a deep breath and nodded his understanding. Maybe in time, but at that moment, there was a mission to consider and a day to enjoy – he didn't want negative emotions to be hanging over either of those things like an angry storm cloud, just waiting to strike painful thunder into his heart. He thanked his alien companion, but didn't give her the go-ahead. Instead, they stayed on the couch a little longer, cuddling away the bad memories.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Soyuznik visibly relaxed when he stepped over the dark threshold into the resin-lined cave. Behind him, swaying ferns and bushes cast bouncing shadows into the entryway from the forest beyond. They had traversed the thick foliage via a small tunnel carved out of the flora already by some of the colony's construction workers, while the Xenomorphs worked on the interior. A good half of the branching cave system had yet to be covered, but it was already feeling rather cosy – for the Xenomorphs. Jeica grimaced as she felt her shirt sticking to her body, making her tac-vest dig into her skin uncomfortably, probably chafing her. She ignored the unpleasant sensation and pointed at the ceiling, where strings of dull lights were dangling, supported by thick casings of resin.

"We had our construction crews install some luxuries into the place, though the lights are more for our benefit, really. We had some spare atmos regulators leftover from the colony pack though, so we've thrown them around the place to keep it nice and humid, and sticky… and gross." Soyuznik shot her an insulted look, at which she shrugged. "It ain't comfy for us, it's the hard truth. There's also the fact that half of us don't dare set foot in here because of… well, you know."

" _Because they are still scared of us, despite the alliance?_ " Soyuznik provided matter-of-factly.

"Don't pretend like you haven't been ready to tear me apart at the first sign of trouble. We've been struggling against each other for hundreds of years, give us some time to settle in, yeah?" The Xeno had no rebuttal for that, so Jeica grunted in satisfaction and resumed admiring the intricate patterns slicked into the walls. "Speaking of settling in… we're hoping to have a Queen some time soon. I'm leading a mission to retrieve some Royal Jelly in a few days. Trouble is, we're having trouble finding a Xenomorph fit for the role – you wouldn't happen to fancy yourself a Queen, would you?" Soyuznik shook his head bemusedly, and Jeica sighed. "Ah well, was worth a shot."

The duo (Akilina not included as she was too busy running her hand along the ribbed walls, admiring the resin) stood still for a few minutes more, merely watching the goings-ons around them. A construction worker stumbled slightly in fright when a Xenomorph peeled itself off the wall and stalked towards the exit, almost dropping his payload of small steel beams. Luckily, another Xeno happened to be passing by with two heavy slabs of concrete on either shoulder, so it hastily caught the beams with its tail and presented them to the nervous man. Soyuznik observed all this, and turned back to Jeica, who had been watching also.

" _Are you sure it's wise to leave this colony on a mission? You are their leader, are you not?_ " Jeica nodded, already seeing where this was going, and hating every second of it. Worst of all, is she knew he was right. " _Shouldn't you stay here then, and make sure nobody does anything… regrettable?_ "

Jeica glanced back up to the hubbub of construction around her and sighed. She began making her way out of the spine-chilling cave and back into the daylight, Soyuznik dutifully following close behind. He again found himself thinking how oddly comforting it was to see humans acting uneasy around his kind, but with every observation of fear and nerve, Soyuznik grew more confident of the peculiar colony. As for Jeica, she was contemplating the idea of letting Jacob head the mission – he and Advena could probably tackle the operation alone, after all.

"Do you know a lot about your kind?" Jeica asked suddenly as they walked, the rumble of machinery and voices fading quickly the farther they travelled. "About Bonding and all that?"

" _I like to think I know as much as any other Xenomorph – bar the ones currently_ in _a Bond, of course._ "

"Is it normal for a Xeno and their Host to… y'know, not click?"

" _I'm not sure I follow_."

"I dunno, Mozart just doesn't seem to have the same kind of connection with me as Jake and Tyler do with their lovers."

" _You think he might not love you?_ "

"What? No I – I'm not interested in fucking aliens, to be frank. The thought of it grosses me out a little, no offense. What I mean is, Jake and 'Vena are just so in sync; I've seen them fight, and it's like they're one person. Mozart and I are definitely two separate people; two _different_ people. Do your people sometimes pick the wrong person to Bond with?" Soyuznik shamefacedly dragged his tail through the dirt while staring at his feet like a dog that had been caught tearing up the couch.

" _If I'm honest, not many of us have thought about who we impregnate for a long time. For the last couple of centuries, we've accepted the fact that you all die when we hatch, so there's no point picking our Hosts out like anything different is going to happen. It's quite possible your 'Mozart' had given up, while your friends' companions clung to their dreams of Bonding._ " Jeica didn't know whether to be disappointed or not – at the very least, she had telepathy, and should Mozart ever give up his pacifism he had proven to fight quite well at her side if the short bout on Reveles was anything to go by.

"Well, thanks anyway. I suppose I should call Jacob then – if I'm not going on the mission, then there's no point delaying it so I can see Akilina off – oh shit, did we leave her behind?" They glanced at one another guiltily, then ran back the way they'd come, back towards the Hive.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jeica placed her palms against the deactivated holo-table, studying the faces of the assorted creatures assembled across from her. Jake and Advena stood on the leftmost side of the room, the former having his arms folded loosely, an expression of rapt attention fixated on his face, and the latter studying the other occupants curiously, having not met these humans before. Tyler and Sal were next to them, the human wearing a scowl and fiddling with his PDA while his alien companion fidgeted and occasionally leaned over his shoulder, obviously conversing privately. Next to them were the two pairs Jeica had picked out; Corporal Leonard McDain, his Warrior Xeno Skater, Private Estela Burtz and her Spitter Xeno Loco. At the far end of the group was a lone man with a very neutral expression and an odd dullness in his icy blue eyes, standing at attention with his arms clasped behind his back. He went by the name of 'Larry' and was oddly unsettling.

"Tyler?" Jeica demanded simply. The scientist took a deep breath, eyes still glued to his screen, before finally looking up and tucking it away.

"There's not a lot of information in the ether," he began, gesturing to the air for emphasis, "so I've been running off experience to determine the best place. There's a small research outpost all about testing Xenomorph sub-species and the likes where I was stationed for a good nine months in my early days. This was over a year ago mind you, so I can't make any promises, but it's the best lead I can get. Last I was there, they had a Queen and a pretty sizable supply of Royal Jelly for research purposes. With any luck, we'll find one or the other still around. My codes will definitely be out of the system by now even if they weren't low-access, but I can still crack the systems once we're on-site, which means –"

"Hang on," Jake interjected. "What do you mean 'we'? There is no _way_ you're coming with."

"I need to be there to break into their archives; the information they'll have there is too good to pass up. Not to mention I know the layout of the place. There's also some… personal business I'd like to attend to there." Jake glared at Jeica, demanding she share her thoughts on the matter.

"I couldn't stop him if I wanted to," she said with a shrug. "He's more than capable, Jacob – especially with Sal at his side."

"As I was saying," Tyler continued, satisfied with the answer, "they'll detect us as soon as we're in orbit as I won't be able to get us an entry code. They don't have anti-air cannons, but they will have ground forces ready to defend the doors. Method of entry is up to you, Sergeant Harlor." Jeica nodded and flicked the holo-table on, allowing a star map to flicker to life. A dotted line connected two planets over an expanse of stars, each labelled by its serial number in tiny print.

"It's a two-week-round trip," she took over, "which is where Larry comes in. Now that we have synthetics like him on our side, we can use the cryo-pods."

"Are you insane?" Tyler objected. He jabbed a finger at the unafflicted synthetic and leaned over the holo-table at her. "We don't know how well they've been scrubbed – they could still have Wey-Yu protocols inside them! This droid could deliver us and our ship directly to the Company's doorstep as soon as our heads hit the pillows!"

"If you do not trust me, you are welcome to stay awake," Larry soothed him, the peevish edge coming from his hatred of being called a 'droid'.

"I damn well will," Tyler snapped. Jake couldn't help but suppress a smirk when Advena amusedly pointed out Sal's resigned expression in private. He couldn't blame the poor alien; the last time he'd been cooped up in a ship for that long hadn't exactly been fun for him.

"Alright ladies, let's not forget why we're here," Jeica intervened. "Equipment-wise, you'll be taking a small transport vessel loaded with standard siege ops gear. If you need anything loaded on, get it today, as you're leaving tomorrow morning, oh-nine-hundred." She tapped a few commands into the holo table's controls, prompting it to zoom in on the planet and show the outer shell of the facility. "Uninhabitable atmosphere, which limits your breaching capabilities. You're going to have to EVA to an airlock or risk compromising the facility and its contents. Other than that, she's all yours Sergeant."

"'Vena and I will look it over tonight. We can plan during the trip if need be," Jake informed her, caught off-guard by her sudden professionalism. The persona cracked, however, when she smiled and slapped him on the shoulder supportively.

"Good luck marines." She strode out the room, effectively dismissing the meeting. Tyler gave Sal a look which meant business, and the two followed on after the lieutenant, likely to gather the supplies they'd need to last a two-week round trip. The other marines weren't far behind, casting anxious glances at the still-active holo-table, before turning and leaving, trusting that Jake would do his job.

Now alone, Advena leaned over to her lover and kissed his cheek gently, bringing him out of his brow-furrowing train of thought.

" _Don't worry about it; you and I could tackle that place in our sleep. Just keep in mind that with Xenos on your side, you can afford to try some more… unorthodox strategies, like in the video games. In fact, you'd probably benefit from doing so due to my kind's particular nature. Just something to think about,_ " Advena added quickly, already feeling the doubt welling in her partner. Why were humans so insistent on sticking to their rules and procedures?

"Because if rules and procedures had been followed, our species would never have been at war in the first place; we would never have even made first contact. It was due to the disobedience of Ellen Ripley's quarantine order that the first Xeno outbreak happened." Jake chuckled at her dumbfounded expression and rubbed her cheek affectionately. "They drilled that into us in Bug Hunting 101."

" _How bad_ was _first contact?_ " Advena asked hesitantly. Jake's answer was simple, but all the information she needed.

"One survivor."

" _Oh._ "

Jake patted her back reassuringly and began leading them out of the dark room, planning on catching some sleep before their big debut.

 **A/N: After editing this chapter, I just suddenly realised how much I have Tyler pop out of nowhere to offer his pessimistic stance on everything. Ah well, it's a running gag now I s'pose. CrazyBirdMan59 out.**


	7. Aristocracy

**Planet Altin  
0900 hours  
Mission Time: N/A  
Unnamed Squad**

"If he can't handle a simple deadline, I'm going to have serious doubts about taking him on this mission," Jake harrumphed, more than a little annoyed. He and Advena had arrived at the spaceport half an hour early in order to ensure they were completely and utterly prepared. They had even spent some time familiarising themselves with the ship; it was a mobile command base, not unlike the one Tyler currently called home, the key difference being this one was larger to accommodate longer-distance flights. Speaking of Tyler…

" _He had an epiphany, apparently,_ " Sal informed them apologetically. " _He's leaving the bunker now._ " Sure enough, two minutes later, Tyler jogged across the asphalt towards them, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He was a stark contrast to the armour-wearing marines awaiting his arrival, dressed instead in what was apparently your average rebel's apparel. Thick faded grey jeans, heavy black boots, fingerless black gloves, dulled blue T-shirt and a thick, black bomber jacket to top it all off. Jake raised an eyebrow at the patch which had recently been sewn into the left shoulder: an eagle, eyes towards the sky, poised as if in the middle of an eruptive takeoff.

"You took your time," Jake sighed, deciding not to question the apparel.

"I was just fetching some lube, y'know, for all the buttsex Sal and I will be having on the trip over," Tyler quipped as he hopped up onto the ship's loading ramp. Jake watched him saunter up the small sheet of metal, into the poorly-lit interior of the cargo bay, placed between the two enormous barrel-like rear thrusters. Sal stalked aboard next, looking none too pleased about the grimy, unfurnished area, followed closely by Leonard McDain, Estela Burtz and their Xenos. Jake took a deep breath, thinking about all the possible ways this mission could go wrong, especially with a loose cannon like Tyler in the mix. He clambered onto the cold metal, placing a hand on the pipe-and-cable-lined ceiling, his footsteps echoing in the enclosed space.

A hiss of steam rattling through the pipes shattered the almost-silence temporarily, before letting the ship fall back to its usual low hum of flowing power. He dropped his backpack in the next room, which turned out to be the galley, which branched off to the rec room and the live-crew quarters. Through the next doorway was the room dominated by several cryo pods arranged into a pattern reminiscent of some kind of shimmering crystal flower. He ducked under the coolant valves and slipped through the final doorway onto the bridge. Larry was flicking switches which lined the cockpit, glancing down at the screens set into the consoles before him every now and again.

" _Automatic take-off procedures now engaged. Please stand by for the automated shuttle marshal to clear your flight, and have a pleasant day,_ " the on-board AI droned, her voice buzzy and annoyingly low-quality.

"Is everyone ready?" Larry inquired without looking back, his hand clamping around a small dial. He began cranking it up, and Jake heard the engines' whining rising in pitch to match.

"Yeah," Jake replied, his eyes drawn to the flashing orange light above and slightly to the left of the android's head. Larry nodded and flicked the switch associated with the light, triggering a metallic _clank_ followed by the hydraulics of the loading ramp. A _clang_ which echoed through the ship told of the vessel having been sealed up tight.

"Then you had best get ready for your sleep." Jake nodded despite the fact Larry was still gazing over the screens.

"Try not to let Tyler kill you on the trip over."

"It's not the human I'm worried about," Larry reminded him, and fairly enough, Jake supposed. An android could outmatch a human any day, but a Xenomorph… strong as they were, androids weren't above being torn in half by the aliens' hands.

"Well, I'll see you in a week, anyway." Larry waved him off over his shoulder dismissively, so Jake just shook his head and left. He hadn't seen a lot of androids in his time – mostly because they were borderline-outlawed and feared by the masses – and now he was thankful for it, if the rest were anything like this one. Who programmed a robot to be snobbish?

He stripped his armour off and began stacking it neatly in one of the cryo room's many lockers, a flash of his ID card claiming it as his. He smiled as he felt Advena watching in awe as the glass lids of the pod raised themselves, ghost-like with a hiss of escaping gas, like a crystal flower now blossoming in the bright, artificial light of the sun-like overhead lights. Right, that's enough of that metaphor.

" _Which one is ours?_ " Advena asked cutely, and Jake couldn't help but laugh at her adorable innocence.

"'Vee, we can't both fit in one together – you'll barely fit in one alone."

" _But we always sleep together!_ " she protested, crestfallen. Jake cupped her cheek gently and kissed her dome.

"Trust me, we'll be awake again just like that," he said as he snapped his fingers. "You won't notice the time go by at all."

He eventually coerced his alien companion into her own pod, making sure to stay by her side until the lid closed and their Bond cut off as she was doused in a heavy shower of cryogenic fluid. He found himself grateful that he and Advena had decided to train themselves to separate, else he would have felt faint from the sudden disappearance of her mental presence. With a sigh, he sat down in his own pod, glancing over to see the other marines doing the same. He slipped his legs into the pod and thumbed the button on the outside, watching the lid descend upon him until it clicked shut, and the pipes began hissing as he too was sprayed with cryogenic fluids.

~~~~~~~~~~(A Day Later)~~~~~~~~~~

Jeica stepped outside the spaceport's control tower, holding a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes from the blazing sun. Distantly, the dark grey bulk of a space vessel parted the hazy skies, just outside of atmosphere but still well visible from below. That meant it was rather enormous; probably a heavy interstellar siege class capital vessel, designed to lay waste to entire solar systems at a time and fitted with dozens of smaller cruisers in its hangars.

"Holy shit, they're dressed to impress aren't they?" Jeica remarked smartly. Akilina was grinning from ear to ear as she dropped her belongings on the asphalt beside her.

"Never be too careful. In American space; very dangerous." They waited patiently together, eventually leading to Akilina pointing at a growing shape in the sky. A small dropship sped towards them, taking a few minutes to swoop down to the spaceport and screech to a landing. As the ramp extended, Jeica and Akilina paced over to the small ship to greet the occupants. A peek at the interior confirmed that they hadn't come in full good faith mode; two armed marines were seated in the passenger bay behind the lightly-armed pilots. However, Jeica's attention was grabbed by the well-dressed officer with the thick moustache and friendly smile.

"Hello American!" he bellowed, extending his hand in greeting. Jeica tentatively shook it, admiring his strong grip, confident and relaxed even in his vulnerable position. "I see you have taken good care of our soldier." She had to commend the man on his English as Akilina nodded and made her way inside the ship. The thick Russian accent was there, but he seemed to know his way around the language much better than Sokolov did. "I must thank you, it is not often an American will offer help so willingly with international relations the way they are."

Akilina murmured something in Russian faster than Jeica could follow, catching the officer's attention for a moment and making him turn around. He was beaming knowingly when he turned back to face the lieutenant. "Ah, rebels. I see. Do not fear, it is none of our business. In fact, I personally encourage you. Perhaps you can help restore our race to our former greatness – perhaps even greater," he added, eyes roaming to Soyuznik, who had oddly enough shown up of his own accord to see Akilina off. Jeica could tell the man was enraptured by the unique alien, and probably had a million questions to ask, but he knew how to keep his curiosity in check.

"I sure hope so, but the Wey-Yu seems pretty hard to topple. Even if we get rid of them in one nation, they still have footholds in the others and could easily instate a war, like what used to happen on Earth." For some reason, this just made the man smirk some more.

"We shall see," he supplied cryptically. "But we like the Wey-Yu just as little as the next nation, so if you ever need some help, your friend knows how to contact us. For now, as thank you, we shall leave a parting gift." He gestured towards the sky, and Jeica couldn't help but gawk at the display through the clouds. Two cruisers were being ejected from the main vessel, thrusters firing to bring them into stable orbit around the planet. "The controls are in Russian, but an experienced pilot should have no trouble still."

"You're… giving us… those ships?" Jeica asked hesitantly, eyebrow arched high with scepticism. The officer just shrugged as he ducked back into his dropship.

"Actions speak louder than words, so keep an eye on the news, maybe then you'll understand. For now, I bid you farewell American; we wouldn't want to stick around too long and draw any attention to your colony."

"Dosvedanya!" Akilina called from within the shuttle, leaning forward in her seat to offer the ground party a wave. Soyuznik raised a big hand awkwardly and waved back, until the loading door whirred shut and the thrusters fired up again. Jeica and the Xeno stepped away to a safe distance and watched it speed away. Not long afterwards, the gigantic cruiser broke away from the planet's gravity and hurtled away towards its next destination. Jeica didn't know whether they were high-tailing it back to Russian space or proceeding to some kind of cover-up job, and frankly, she didn't care. Currently, all she wanted to do was get those two ships scanned, swept and converted into a language she could read.

~~~~~~~~~~(A Week Later)~~~~~~~~~~

And just like that, Jake was blinking away the 'sleep', the bright lights and white walls of the cryo room slowly shaking off their blurs and taking solid shape before him. Through the rush of blood in his ears his hearing was swimming back to him, muffled at first as if he was underwater, then giving way to Wham!, Tyler apparently having no trouble forcing his music tastes on Larry during the trip. Good thing it was decent music or he might have felt sorry for the android.

"Left me sleeping, in my bed. I was dreaming, but I should've been with you instead! Wake me up, before you go go, don't leave me hangin' on like a yo-yo." Jake groaned and hoisted himself out of his pod, glancing over to his side and doing his best to ignore his headache. The loud music wasn't making it any better, as much as he liked the song. Advena slopped out of her own pod unsteadily, thumping onto the ground in an ungainly heap.

" _I don't feel so good…_ " she complained.

"Yeah, first time's a bitc–" Advena suddenly choked out a stream of thin, transparent bile right before his eyes. Empathetic as he was, Jake retched and immediately turned his eyes away. "Dear lord give me some warning next time!"

" _I'm sorry, I think I'm gonna –_ " Advena didn't get to finish her sentence as a shudder wracked her body and her mental efforts were directed towards gagging. Jake blocked his ears and headed out of the room, not that either action would do much good as he could _feel_ his partner's stomach churning within her body.

"Wake me up, before you go go, 'cause I'm not planning on goin' solo. Wake me up, before you go go, take me dancing tonight."

"Tyler, turn that down before I 'go go' out the airlock; my head is killing me," he grizzled as he stepped into the rec room. Somehow, he didn't have it in him to be surprised at the fact the place had been turned into a makeshift workshop. A table had been pushed into the corner and stacked with tools and scraps to act as a workbench, and a laptop had been set up in the opposite corner with what appeared to be a set of blueprints on screen, as well as a small window opened with a picture of some faded Wham! album art. The scientist himself was lounging in a comfortable chair, snapping his fingers along with the tune with one hand, while the other used a stylus to draw intricate patterns on the PDA perched upon his knee. Tyler placed his stylus on the screen and dragged down, prompting a volume bar to appear on the laptop's screen across the room. Thankfully, Tyler had mercy and did as he was asked without comment or question, and even went so far to glance up at his friend with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Mornin' sleepyhead. Sweet dreams?"

" _Ugh, I didn't dream at all,_ " Advena whined with another shiver. " _It was really unnerving; it's like no time passed at all._ "

"Well, clearly your body's lying to you 'Vee, as I happen to have gotten a lot of work done in the last week. Nearly blew up the ship with that alien device I've been pulling apart – that would've been fun. But it's under control now, and is in fact a very robust weapon which I've incorporated into my kit. Check it." Tyler raised his wrist, revealing the strangely synergetic amalgamation of alien and human tech. A small screen was mounted onto an armoured glove, followed by a digital watch mounted on the wrist section and two alien ridges which, when prompted by a trigger on the device, flicked out two wicked, serrated blades. "Now whenever I body-swap with Sal, he'll still have claws to work with." Tyler giggled at his quip and sheathed the blades again. "Now I really _do_ feel like a little junior badass."

"Don't let it get to your head," Jake advised him, though he found the reasoning sound. Maybe he should invest in having some kind of bladed weapon other than his combat knife, something Advena would be more comfortable using should she ever need to take over his body. Sure he and Jeica had drilled into her that she should favour the provided armaments over her natural weapons, but her instincts had her returning to the latter every, single, god-damned, frustration-filled time.

"We're in high orbit now – they've probably picked us up on scanners so I hope you plan on making a move soon." Jake nodded, plucking a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the room and taking long gulps in an attempt to quell the pounding in his head.

"Alright, armour on everyone; we head out as soon as possible," he commanded as he spied the other four hanging back in the doorway. "That includes you, Tyler."

"I already _am_ in my armour," the scientist chided him, spreading his arms so Jake could observe his apparel. Jake was not impressed, to say the least. They were the same clothes he'd been wearing when he'd come aboard and lacked any form of ballistic protection.

"You've got to be kidding me. There's spare armour in the back, go grab yourself something which won't blow up when our enemies so much as look at it."

"I am _not_ dragging around a full set of steel plates. If you guys are any good at your job, I won't need it."

"You're wearing a vest at the very least, and that's final," Jake snapped, then about-faced and went to retrieve his own gear. He helped his partner into her own custom-built armour from the Advena Project, feeling just a little guilty that the other Xenos didn't get the same luxury, but ultimately getting over it to face the situation at hand. "Tyler," he barked once everyone was geared up, "can you get me the schematics in here?"

"Aye aye _Sir_." Tyler tossed a small projector onto his workshop table moodily, leaving Jake to just be thankful he was still cooperating. Why the hell had Jeica wanted a mentally-unstable ex-turncoat on this mission again? "Main entrance is here, with maintenance entrances by the waste processing plant over here, and the roof's radio tower access here," the scientist explained, pointing out the places of interest on the holographic map the projector had sprung into life. "Archives are here, near the communications area, so our easiest path is through the radio tower. However, chemical storage is here, on the other side of the facility, near the waste disposal, and the live specimen storage is near the centre. So, we can either split up our forces to hit multiple targets at once, or try to sweep our objectives one by one and hope the staff don't enact asset termination procedures."

"We enter through the main airlock," Jake decided. "Stick together, get to live specimen containment first and secure any potential Xenomorph allies. By that point, most of the security will be cleared out, so we can split into two groups to check out the remaining two objectives."

"Well then, let's land this bucket shall we?" Tyler remarked, already sweeping out of the room towards the cockpit. Jake decided to follow along, just in case.

"I'm perfectly capable of activating the automatic landing procedures by myself," Larry grunted from his seat at the pilot's console.

"Scoot," Tyler demanded, shooing the android away with his hands. "There _are_ no automatic landing procedures – those are handled by the facility's spaceport marshal AI, which happens to be under the control of the very same people who would like to see us crash into the side of a mountain. We go in manual." Larry sighed and shifted into the co-pilot's seat, triggering Tyler's infuriatingly self-satisfied smirk as he plopped himself into the formerly-occupied chair. "You have any training?"

"All industrial synthetics are outfitted with basic operation protocols; I know my ignition from my self-destruct sequence."

"Good, that means I can tell you to do things and look smart in front of this lot. Switching to manual." Tyler reached down to the small console screen which separated the two seats and clicked a hefty switch with practiced ease. "Standby to break orbit. We'll need a retrograde burn from the primary thrusters."

"Manoeuvring," Larry confirmed as he ran his fingers across his controls. The middle console screen began displaying his changes, showing the ship flipping around in relation to the planet. A small arrow on the surface was likely their target landing zone.

"Give me a three-second burn."

"Three second retrograde burn." Larry turned a dial up and the engines rumbled to life. The display changed from an orbital view to a surface view, a curved line striking the surface quite a ways off another arrow. "Trajectory's off."

"We'll re-align once we're in atmosphere. Direct the heat plates… let's say thirty degrees off landing horizon."

" _Jake, where's the food?_ " Advena grumbled from the other room, forcing the sergeant to duck out and confront her.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," he advised her, stepping into the living quarters' kitchen. She had just discovered the cupboard full of vacuum-sealed MREs and was currently tearing into one.

" _I feel fine now, don't worry._ " Jake huffed, but let it slide. She was a Xeno after all, perhaps their bodies worked differently? All he knew for sure was that he intended to give himself a couple of hours before attempting eating something. Something about suspended animation makes you really queasy for a few hours after you wake up – probably all the body's organs booting back up from technical death. Advena, for her part, tore into the preserved meal without even bothering to heat it, causing a little dribble of soup to run down her chin in her ravenous hunger.

"Ugh, you're messing up your armo –" Jake had to stop in half surprise as Advena quickly dunked her head in the sink and violently threw everything back up before most of it even had time to settle in her stomach. He reflexively retched and bent over double, trying his best not to follow in his lover's footsteps. "God damn it 'Vee." A pitiful moan was all he got in response, Advena's body clinging limply to the sink's lip, not bothering to lift her head from the cold metal. He sighed and left her to recover, opting instead to arrange equipment with the others.

The four others were waiting in the cargo hold near the crates stacked with gear, arms folded and leaning against the hull as they waited. "McDain, you any good with explosives?" The corporal nodded, casting an unsure glance towards his Xeno.

"Yeah… are we going to let them run out like that?" He gestured towards his companion to emphasise the point. "I mean, Advena gets armour…" Jake grimaced, but he'd already run through the same questions himself several times, so the answer was simple.

"We're lucky she does; it's the only Xenomorph armour ever manufactured, and it's custom-built to fit her. I'll take it up with the lieutenant when we get things sorted out back home, but for now we'll have to rely on stealth, speed and precision to get us through this mission. Alright?"

"Easy for you to say," McDain muttered under his breath, but the lack of anger in his voice showed clearly he understood, and didn't blame Jake in the slightest. "Alright. So what's the plan? They're going to have a firing squad set up on the other side of that airlock."

"We set up a firing squad of our own. I want you on charges, so fill your pockets with C4. Burtz, I'm relying on you for extra ammo – we're gonna need it. Tyler can handle the hack tools, Advena can carry the deployable shields, I'll put Sal on heavy weapons and I'll need the Warrior here to carry a couple of auto-turrets." The ship shook briefly as they hit atmosphere hard, initiating re-entry. It wouldn't be long now.

"Alright Skater, let's get you geared up. We can probably use a couple of munition belts to strap these turrets to your back, free up your hands and make carrying them a little easier," McDain hummed, circling around his partner as he thought aloud. Burtz was quieter, opting instead to root through a few crates looking for a suitable bag to carry equipment in. Her Spitter Xenomorph stood around a little awkwardly, having not been assigned anything to do.

"So what's the story with her name?" Jake asked idly, hoping to strike up a conversation and maybe get on friendlier terms with the marines. McDain smirked, but didn't take his eyes off his work, carefully placing detonators and packs of plastic explosives into his vest pockets.

"She likes to run a lot, but she's, uh… bulky. _Bulky_ I said damn you, it is _not_ the same as fat. Anyway, she's good at the speeding up, but not so much at the slowing down, so she ends up skidding across anything smoother than steel grating. And crashing into walls, more often than not. A bit of a klutz, but a real sweetie." He patted the alien's face fondly, earning himself a purr. "Here, stand still a moment would you?" Jake watched the marine sling three belts strapped together over his companion's shoulder, ducking under her arm to secure it at the back. It was a little awkward having to weave it between her spines in a way which would be comfortable for her, but he managed, eventually stepping back to admire his handiwork. "Not a bad look for you Skates. Slip a couple of turrets in that bad boy and you'll have those Wey-Yu bastards shitting their pants."

"What about you?" Jake asked the private. Burtz glanced up from her crate of pistol magazines, seemingly startled.

"What, Loco? It's like… Spanish, or something. Means crazy." Not much of a talker then. So be it. Jake let her be and began gathering up equipment for Advena. A strong solider could carry one of the heavy-duty shields, but a Xenomorph… he thought deeply about how it felt to be in 'Vena's body, and decided three was a good number. At the sound of his thought process, the Xeno in question stumbled into the room, pushing her helmet out of her eyes lopsidedly.

" _I'm… I'm alright now. Let's get geared up. And uh, I think my helmet needs adjusting._ " Jake shook his head bemusedly and set to the task.

"Thirty seconds," Tyler told them over the intercom. "Don't forget breather units."

"You heard the man. Suit up." The marines approached the airlock one by one, grabbing a pair of lightweight EVA breathers. The atmosphere on the planet was cold, but not enough to warrant a full suit, especially considering they would only be outside for a few minutes. The lack of any usable forms of oxygen, however, was a problem. Jake fitted his own half-mask on first, a small pipe leading from its bottom to a small pack which clipped onto the belt – enough to provide half an hour of air. "Uh…" He glanced from his lover, to the other marines, who were staring right back at him, awaiting directions, masks in their hands while they stood dumbly opposite their Xenos. Nobody had any idea how to secure them to the aliens' faces.

" _We can survive without air much longer than humans can,_ " Advena assured him. " _Haven't you ever heard stories of Xenomorphs in the vacuum of space?_ "

"I'm not happy about it, but you have a point, and we can't exactly do much about it now," Jake conceded. The ship jolted suddenly, and the engines began dying down, signalling they had landed. Jake turned to the hallway expectantly, and sure enough, Tyler waltzed in a moment later with Sal at his side. The scientist already had a mask on and his jacket zipped up in preparation for the ordeal to come.

" _You wanted me to carry some things?_ " Sal asked the sergeant, distracting him from all thoughts of lecturing Tyler on bringing a vest. He pointed to a small pile he'd set aside, consisting of a small, tube-like rocket launcher and a hefty light machine gun.

"Yeah, thought it might be a good idea to bring some extra firepower Jeica so kindly provided us with. Just in case their security is a little beefier than Tyler remembers; it _has_ been a few years, after all." Sal nodded and slung the weapons over his shoulder, along with a MK221 Tactical Shotgun. In a surprisingly knowledgeable display, the Xeno also plucked an under-barrel arc round launcher and began attaching it to his weapon. Either he was getting some lessons in advance of his peers, or Tyler knew a hell of a lot more about weapons than he let on. The scientist himself was armed only with a single pistol holstered at his left thigh and his tools which he stashed in a small satchel, much to Jake's dismay.

"We ready to go, Sir?" McDain queried anxiously. Jake took a deep breath, steeled himself, and nodded. Now began his first time leading real people on a real mission; these lives were in his hands. The usual doubts flitted through his mind, but there was no room for that now, the cargo bay door was already opening. A strong, reassuring hand wrapped itself around his, and Advena's lightly-armoured face nuzzled him gently.

" _We go in, we shoot some bad guys, we grab the stuff we need, we get out. Easy peasy._ " Jake hopped down out of the ship first, motioning Advena to join him.

"Alright team," he announced, voice slightly muffled by the chilling winds and the deep breaths he was drawing from his mask. "Advena and I will take point, Skater and Loco can take up the rear, McDain, Burtz, please do your best to keep Tyler from getting shot." The group approached the intimidating airlock doors, massive in size so it could fit trucks and cargo loaders, signs of a much busier time. In fact, the place seemed very empty and almost run down. It _had_ been a few years, Jake reminded himself, what if the place had been shut down? Well, all the better for them; all that meant was it would be even easier to grab what they needed.

Tyler set to work, kneeling down next to the airlock controls and fetching his bypass tool from his bag. While he fiddled with the wiring, Jake turned to Advena uncertainly. " _Are you sure you're okay?_ " he asked privately. It was unnerving to watch her, her chest so still as she refused to draw breath, no clouds of warmth being thrown into the air by her gaping maw despite the cold. It was like she wasn't really alive.

" _I'm fine, Jake. Xenomorphs are perfect organisms, remember?_ " Jake scoffed at her, though citing the crazed Ash's words brought him to thinking about the android currently sitting in their ship. What if Tyler was right? What if there were still Wey-Yu protocols coded into Larry, even if he didn't know about it? There were so many ways this mission could go wrong.

"And voila, piece of cake," Tyler announced with his usual flair a second before the airlock began rumbling open. "Showtime Jacob." The sergeant nodded and took the first step inside the massive space. The inner airlock door was all that separated them from the firing squad which no doubt awaited them, but at least they had plenty of space within to set up their counter-attack.

" _Just stop worrying about what could go wrong and take things one step at a time, we'll be fine,_ " Advena advised him as she took up position behind him, sliding a single shield off her back. " _Don't worry, I've already read your plan right out of your head; I'll get this set up while you tell the others._ " True to her word, Advena unravelled the heavy package, revealing three sturdy pikes strung together with wire like deadly Christmas lights and two thick chunks of metal. She stabbed the pikes into the ground, using the wire as a guide of how far apart they should be, and once satisfied, pushed a button at each of their bases, activating the pressurised tips, which were forced deep into the concrete floor with a sharp hiss. Advena hefted one of the metal sheets and slid it between two of the pikes, repeating the process with the other until she was left with a thick, sternum-height (for humans, that is) wall which was well embedded into the ground. Not even a rocket launcher would knock this cover over.

In the meantime, Jake directed the two other Xenomorphs to take up positions on the roof, where they took out the lights, plunging the airlock into darkness. Sal handed the LMG from his back to Burtz, enabling the four humans to take up positions behind their cover. Together, the two sheets made a wall about four metres long, just enough to fit them all behind.

"Hey boss, what about the turrets?" McDain queried, pointing to his Warrior companion. Jake shook his head.

"We need those for when we hit the archives. If Tyler's going to do a thorough job, we're going to need to stick around for a while. We can block up the two entrances with the shields and the turrets, so I don't really want to risk them getting damaged now." McDain nodded in understanding and checked his M4RA Battle Rifle. "We ready Tyler?"

"Just say the word."

"Go." Tyler glanced over his shoulder to ensure his body was fully hidden by the shield before tapping his PDA screen, triggering the airlock's cycle remotely. The door they'd come in through rumbled shut over the course of an agonising ten seconds, followed by the steady hiss of the planet's atmosphere being replaced with breathable nitrogen-oxygen mixture. Finally, all noise ceased for a beat; the moment of truth was upon them.

With a mournful groan, the heavy metal bulkhead which led into the facility split in half and began rolling down its tracks, causing light to flood into the airlock weakly, barely illuminating the floor a few metres in. Immediately after the door had opened half a metre, the shield was pelted by three objects. "Were those –?" Tyler whispered concernedly, but was cut off by the explosions which shook the room and tore a pipe loose from the ceiling. Oxygen began shrieking in through the new hole in the room, the airlock's system now compromised.

"Suppressive fire," Jake murmured to his team as he readied his Pulse Rifle. In the darkness, it was likely that it would take them a few seconds to be spotted – plenty of time to turn overwhelming odds in one's favour; this would be a cake walk. He motioned to Burtz, who was in the middle of the three marines, prompting her to pop her torso up over their cover and rest her weapon's body on the lip in one swift movement. Her finger tightened on the trigger, followed by Jake and McDain, unleashing a hail of bullets on their enemies.

In the second Jake had to acquaint himself with the next room, he managed to pick out their enemies – twelve Weyland-Yutani security personnel all poised to tear apart anything which came out of the airlock – standing mostly out in the open in a small lobby-type entry area. The back of the room was capped off by a security checkpoint which would automatically allow people through once ID was presented. Much of the room was dominated by large digital posters of the Wey-Yu's technological and scientific achievements, accompanied by several benches for newcomers to wait in. Two of the opposing soldiers – if they could be called that; they were more akin to police officers if anything – were pressed around the corners where the airlock opened up into the comparatively-larger lobby, while the rest were exposed and relying completely on having the home advantage over invaders.

Now, however, they were scattering as bullets zipped by inaccurately, the marines having not had the time to aim yet. Regardless, one security officer was clipped on the shoulder before he could be yanked out of the line of fire by his comrades. Jake gave Advena the mental go-ahead, so she began leading the Xenos out of the airlock, along the roof where the officers wouldn't be looking. No, they would be far more concentrated on where the bullets were coming from. While she did so, Jake held up a closed fist, and his fellow soldiers dutifully let up their fire and crouched down to expose as little of their bodies as possible while still maintaining their view of the room.

"If you surrender, we won't hurt you!" he called out. "You don't have to die for those Corporate bastards!"

"We won't surrender to terrorists!" a warbling, but determined voice yelled back from within the room. Jake sighed and turned to Burtz.

"We shoot at their feet and the Xenos will attack from the rear. Clear?"

"Roger." She slid her LMG back into position and resumed firing at the positions the officers had retreated to, keeping them pinned down while McDain scanned for anyone brave enough to stick their head out. One such man revealed himself when Burtz switched from one side of the room to the other, giving him an opportunity to bounce out and raise his pistol. A single shot to his armoured chest sent him to the floor with the force of the high-calibre impact, and another to the kneecap ensured he wouldn't get back up.

Finally, the aliens struck. Cringe-worthy screams of pain filled the air for a few moments, accompanied by sporadic gunfire, until it just as suddenly gave way to groaning and panting. The marines vaulted over their shield and waltzed into the room, guns at their hips just in case.

To either side of them, security officers were on the floor, clutching injuries and hissing, moaning or sobbing softly. Advena earned herself a grateful nod and half-hearted smile from Jake when he noted no casualties, only pretty major lacerations all over their bodies – from claws, tails and teeth.

" _Look at their weapons. Pistols, one rifle, and one shotgun. Who the hell is running this place?_ " Advena hissed in resentment. By all means, she was grateful the security in this place was useless, but that didn't stop the facts from cementing her hatred of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

Surprisingly, Tyler knelt down next to one of the injured security officers and slid an emergency medical bag from his satchel, his mouth a grim line of determination. He lined up disinfectant, gauze and biospray neatly before yanking on rubber gloves and setting to work.

"Keep pushing for the other objectives. Sal and I will meet you at the archives."

"We are not –" Jake tried to say, but Tyler was having none of it.

"You either stay here and help me tend to these men, or you save time and do the things you don't need me for. That's as far as I'm willing to negotiate on this matter, Sergeant." Jake had to admit, it was quite nice to see Tyler sticking to his moral code, and sparing the guards death at the hands of Xenomorphs wouldn't mean much if they bled out in the lobby. Jake signalled his marines to form up.

"Alright, Skater, leave them a turret here – I trust you'll be able to carry it to the archives, Sal?" A nod. "Good. Move the injured behind the shield and do your thing there, just to be safe. I'll radio in when we've finished searching chemical storage and specimen containment, at which point you move out _regardless of whether you're finished here_. Clear?"

"Whatever you say," Tyler muttered noncommittally. Jake got the feeling he wouldn't budge from this area until he was done, but considering their objectives, he would probably finish up well before they reached the archives.

"Let's go people." Sal dutifully accepted a turret from Skater and placed it down for the moment, merely watching the party move on for a few seconds, until he suddenly received a mental message from Tyler, which had him scampering to Tyler's satchel in a jiffy. Jake shook his head at the inevitable disobedience of his every order, but faced forwards and led his team onwards anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~(Soon After)~~~~~~~~~~

Something wasn't right here. That much had been obvious when Jake's team had arrived at the live specimen containment, only to find the complex doused in darkness. When they'd finally found the breaker for the place, the lights had flickered on the reveal rusted walls, run-down cells and no signs of life having existed there for many, many months. The chemical storage hadn't been much better; the usual shtick was there, but nothing Xeno-related. Frustrated, Jake radioed in to Tyler while they walked to the archives.

"Tyler, come in." Static for a moment.

"Yeeeup, Tyler here. All patients are patched up and sedated. They won't come to for another couple of hours, so you don't need to worry about –"

"Tyler, specimen containment was empty, abandoned for a long time. Chemical storage was a bust too. Did you bring us to the wrong place?"

"Shit, no way, they shut this place down? Okay, okay, we can get to the bottom of this. The archives will have records – we can still salvage this."

"We're nearly there. We'll set up while you make your way over."

"Right-o, don't forget the turret Sal. No, it's already off. Oh don't be such a baby, look, I'll even prove it." Jake clicked his radio off and flicked his fingers to Advena, no communication required as she'd already picked up his request from his mind. She slid a shield off her back and began setting it up in the doorway while the marines kept moving forward into the room. Weapons drawn, they yelled intimidatingly at the staff within to step away from their consoles and kneel with their hands behind their heads. If having a few rifles pointed in their faces wasn't convincing enough, the two hulking aliens which peeled themselves out of the shadows sure as hell were.

Jake took stock of the room, searching for vulnerabilities. The circular area was lined with computer consoles and chairs with three doors leading out; two into the facility beyond, and one into the dead-end server room, which was filled solely with racks and shelves of more computing technology such as hard drives, servers and communications devices.

"Burtz, McDain, man the perimeter until Tyler gets here; I don't think either of them have an IFF on them, so we can't use the robots yet." Jake watched Advena brush past so as to access the second exit. He almost made a move to help her with setting the shield up even though it was probably easier to do alone, but McDain cut him off anyway and followed along behind her instead. Burtz left her LMG behind on her way to her post, leaving Jake alone with the prisoners and two Xenomorphs.

It didn't take long for Tyler's inappropriately-casual arrival, spearheaded by the young man sliding over one of the barricades like a Dukes of Hazard wannabe, his Xenomorph boyfriend stepping over it in a much more dignified manner soon after. He dropped the turret he'd been carrying in the doorway for McDain to set up and followed his human companion into the main area where an unimpressed Jake was waiting.

"Howdy," Tyler greeted him nonchalantly, dropping his bag in a figurative corner and setting to work on one of the consoles. "So, first thing's first? I guess we find out where our objectives disappeared to. Just give me a minute to crack the security… ah, who am I kidding? Let's just ask these guys." With speed and dexterity Jake wouldn't have thought possible, the scientist whipped his pistol out of its holster and pressed it against one of the staff's foreheads. "Password?"

"Oh god please! I don't know!" the man sobbed.

"Well, someone better had, or there's gonna be some problems here."

"For fuck's sake Tyler, put that thing away! This is _not_ how we operate," Jake growled.

"Then it's no wonder why the Resistance never gets anything done. You wanna play this game with the Wey-Yu? You gotta play dirty, god knows they will. If you stick to honour and morals like a good boy they will walk all over you, pound you into dust and laugh at your pathetic corpse." He returned his attention to his hostage. "Now, which one of your friends knows the codes?"

"I do," a calm and level-headed voice responded, which was odd considering the circumstances. Tyler glanced over to the voice's origin, and immediately picked out the Chief of Security, staring back at him in an almost challenging manner, her expression too neutral to read. "And for god's sake Martez, have some dignity; it's not even loaded." Tyler's face split into a friendly smirk and his finger tightened on the trigger. _Click_. Upon further inspection, Jake realised the pistol didn't even have a clip in it. He sighed in annoyance, but relaxed. It seemed Tyler was intent on sticking to his morals after all.

"Good god Sheila, you still work in this awful place?"

"You know me, always upsetting someone, always screwing up some opportunity to transfer to a half-decent facility within twenty solar-systems of civilisation. I see you've gotten a… promotion?"

"Actually, I think my cushy job back on Reveles was better. Being an outlaw isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"The big scary murder-aliens aren't trying to murder you. That sounds like a pretty fucking good promotion to me."

"Touché. You sound interested. You know, we're doing interviews. Bring your résumé to our secret Resistance base next Monday week and we'll see if we have any positions for you. Oh, formal attire only; gotta make a good impression."

Jake cleared his throat noisily, interrupting their banter.

"We're on a time limit here, Tyler."

"E-six-nine-four-i-p-l, all lower case except the first letter," Sheila supplied them with a shrug. "But seriously, you guys actually hiring?" Tyler cast Jake a 'your call but there's only one right answer here' look while he typed in the code. The consoles flashed green, unlocking the system. "I mean, I don't wanna be a terrorist or anything, but the Tyler I know would never hurt anyone unless he had to, so I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say you aren't who the Wey-Yu make you out to be."

"Well, _we_ aren't, but we have an evil-twin kinda thing going on with this rebel faction called the 'Insurgents'. They're basically terrorists," Tyler explained without taking his eyes off the screen. He was performing a professional sweep of the databases, running multiple windows on multiple screens to search keywords and copy files to his wireless hard drive. "Hm, we have a problem here, Jake. The Xenos and Jelly were transferred a while back, but someone's done a pretty good job of wiping all records of the incident from the servers. I might have to check for a physical backup in the server room." Tyler jerked his thumb towards the glass doors leading into the side room as he mentioned it. "Just finding the rack number now… So, what do you guys do around here anyway? I don't remember there being much here except live specimen stuff. Damn, do they still have the biodome? I loved that place."

"Yeah, they still have the biodome – nothing in it anymore though; the caretakers got transferred," Sheila answered dismissively. "We don't exactly have much to do around here – we mostly just archive experimental tech that the execs shove to the back shelf. We had a visit from a high-class guy a while back – a Weyland, Seto by name if I remember correctly."

"Seto Weyland?" Tyler repeated, pausing his work with a broody expression. "I know the name."

"Wait, Weyland as in the American family who founded the corporation centuries ago?" Jake demanded.

"No, not really. They all died off soon before the merge with Yutani," Tyler waved him off. "It's just a tradition for the more important Company personnel to take Weyland or Yutani as their last name in order to stop people like us from finding their families and taking them hostage or killing them or something. Seto though… didn't think he was the type to come out to the shitty rim worlds in person."

"Pretty sure it was unofficial business, but I don't give two shits about those guys, so I let him do as he does, and he did. He didn't leave with any of the junk stored here though, so I think he was just sifting through records – probably after some of the genetic mutation experiment logs done here a while back, long before I got here. You know him well?"

"Me?" Tyler scoffed. "There's no way they'd let someone like me near someone like him; I'm surprised he was even able to get this far away from the core worlds without a war fleet on his tail. No, we did a few collaborations; long-distance stuff. I'd send him some blueprints, he'd send some back. He's actually the reason the Wey-Yu rejected me as a techie and left me to rot out here on the rim worlds instead of creating super weapons in the core sector. See, I like to leave backdoors in my creations, as an added security measure. Seto made it his pastime to sift through my blueprints and take the backdoors out, while pointing them out to his superior and getting me on the shit list. The execs don't like having loopholes in their tech because that means someone like me or Seto can access it whenever we want. But hey, it's also the only way those dickheads can stop us from using it, so steal as many mech suits, ships, tanks and super-weapons as you want; without a backdoor, they can't stop you."

Tyler smirked at the thought, leaning against the console for a moment as he stared off into space. "Ah, that would be nice. I would be in one of those battle mechs with a million missiles pointed at Seto's face. 'Go on, shut me down smart guy. Oh, what's that? You can't? Well, if only you had a backdoor'. Stupid shit-eating beurocrats."

"This guy really pisses you off," Jake noted amusedly, folding his arms and grinning with interest. It was always nice to see someone else get under Tyler's skin for once.

"Well, apart from single-handedly condemning me to resort to fucking aliens and hanging out with you guys for friends –"

"Ouch," Jake mumbled.

"– He also happens to be incredibly smart. As smart as me, maybe even smarter." Well, that would certainly make Tyler mad, Jake thought to himself. "Which means he is also incredibly dangerous, so wipe that shit-eating grin off your face. When the Wey-Yu successfully replicates the Advena project and gets Xenos on their side, you can bet your ass Seto will be the one inventing all the tech to go with it. Anything I make for us, Seto will make something five times better, because he has infinite money and resources at his disposal while I have a bunch of dumbasses and a few guns."

"You're making things for us?"

"Well… I've been trying to cobble together a few things… mostly just researching how Bonds and telepathy work so far, but you know… a few side projects around…"

"I didn't know you cared." And even though he was being a sarcastic ass about it, Jake was genuinely touched that Tyler was putting work into helping them, despite his frequent spouts of pessimism.

"Rack F-22. Got it." Just like that, the conversation was over, and Tyler was back to work. He sauntered over to the server room doors, having to pick his way through the various officers, picking up hushed whispers from the scared staff as he did so.

"Where the hell is Strass?" one asked worriedly.

"Why the fuck are you helping the terrorists?" another hissed at Sheila. It was probably bad that they were confident enough to talk amongst themselves – they should be scared and whimpering, because pissed pants were better than having to shed the blood of people who try to play hero.

The doors hissed open when prompted by Tyler, and he took a moment to scan the room for the rack he needed. A, B, C, D –

 _Boom._

Tyler's body was flung at the wall, where he crumpled onto the ground, lying flat on his back, eyes wide and staring blankly at the ceiling. Jake's rifle swung round to bear at the security officer in the darkness of the server room, but he wasn't quick enough. Sal leapt at the offending man, knocking the smoking shotgun out of his arms and slamming him onto the floor with his momentum. Jake cringed and had to look away when Sal's claws tore into the man's chest and flung bloody chunks left and right, accompanied by a headache-inducing scream of rage. The marine decided to make himself more useful by sliding to his friend's side and checking over his injuries.

"F-fuck!" Tyler cried, his voice cracking slightly. Alive. Good. There were several singed holes in Tyler's jacket where the buckshot had torn through, but no signs of blood. Jake shakily unzipped the jacket, and heaved a sigh of relief. The pellets from the shotgun were mashed into ugly blobs after smashing against the sturdy bullet-proof vest beneath. Tyler had actually listened. Thank god. And as much as he wanted to rub it into the stubborn, condescending scientist's face, he didn't want to discourage this kind of behaviour in future, so he simply unstrapped the vest and began pressing against Tyler's rib cage carefully.

Tyler hissed in pain, but Jake couldn't feel anything moving in ways it shouldn't.

"Alright, you're okay. Some bruising, probably, but nothing's broken. We can check for any cracking once we get you to a med bay, but you'll be alright to move." Tyler nodded, still a little disoriented.

"Yeah… yeah, okay… I might… I might just lie here for a bit… catch my breath…"

Jake swapped places with Sal, allowing the alien to comfort his boyfriend, but not before grimacing at the blood dripping from his claws.

"Jesus fuck," Sheila commented as Jake stepped past her. A couple of the security staff had thrown up, and more than a few others were looking very pale and shaky. "Are you sure you have those things under control?"

"People tend to get a little angry when you try to kill their lovers," was Jake's answer, though he knew that he had a lot of rules to lay down, with the help of Jeica, once they got back to the colony. He shook the thoughts from his mind for now, and instead found rack F and ran his fingers down all the boxes and blinking lights until he came across one plastered with the number '22'. He hastily retrieved it and high-tailed back to the command room, doing his best to ignore the mangled corpse in the doorway. "Someone put a fucking blanket or coat or something over that man, would you?"

Tyler himself shrugged off his hole-riddled bomber jacket and held it out, swapping it for the server back-up Jake had retrieved. It was oddly touching, seeing the normally-snarky Tyler so sobered and sincere, and surprisingly not even angry at his would-be murderer. Must be his moral code, Jake reasoned as he laid the coat over the worst of the body. The pool of blood and legs still stuck from beneath the makeshift cover, but at least the gaping hole and exposed rib cage were hidden from sight.

"So… you date hulking space monsters now?" Sheila asked awkwardly, trying to break the sickening tension in the room, but her heart wasn't in it. She couldn't blame the alien, all things considered, but still…

"He's not usually like this. Xenomorphs can be a little… overprotective, I guess. It's cute when there's no murder involved," Tyler mumbled, still in shock if his shaky hands and frequent typing errors were anything to go by. "There's not a lot left; whoever did this wipe was pretty thorough, but I've found some files with the same time stamps which could be related, I'll let you know if I find anything good."

In the meantime, Jake picked up one of the two shotguns which had fallen nearby the man's corpse, slapping it against Sal's stomach.

"You have a gun, Sal," he growled. "Next time, use it." Sal nodded and placed his hands over the weapon, holding it to his body as if he were a child and it were his security blanket. He would have to make sure the other Xenos got that drilled into their heads too; there was no way in hell the general public would accept them as a benevolent force if this was how they operated. Even Jake was having second guesses about their alien allies being on the field, and he was the one who started this whole thing in the first place.

"Okay, there's a few files here which match the general time period of the wipe which may prove useful," Tyler announced, breaking Jake away from his thoughts. "This one's an interview with a CEO, looks like it has something to do with the asset movement." The video in question appeared on all the console screens in the room, one of which Jake wandered over to in order to watch. Static gave way to a dark room with a table in the centre, a pool of yellow light illuminating its surface. The camera was at one end of the table, facing the man on the other side. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with a black five o'clock shadow running neatly across the lower half of his face. With the way the light was angled, you could barely make out his hazel eyes peering at the person behind the camera and slicked-back black hair.

"Please state your name for the records," the off-camera person asked in an authoritative voice.

"What is this, an interrogation?" the man at the table asked with a slight smirk.

"No, it's a re-evaluation of your status as CEO of Colonial Laboratory ZN-782, so I would appreciate it if you would take this seriously and follow protocol. Name?" The man sighed and leaned his elbows on the table.

"Abraham Halm. Happy?"

"Incredibly." The monotonous voice didn't _sound_ very happy. "Now, allow me to retrieve the files…" The sound of paper shuffling before the disembodied voice continued. "You requested that the Queen egg be used upon a specific personnel, is this correct?"

"Yeah."

"Which was… you?" An emotion in the voice this time – confusion? Concern? Bemusement? They didn't give much away.

"'Sright."

"You've stumped me, Mister Halm. The psychiatric evaluations have come back in the clear, and bar insanity, we have no idea what would prompt such a desire. It would please us greatly if you would offer an explanation."

"A week ago, you told me you were moving some Xenos from a weapons lab to my colony on Ulterin, and then told me that my team would be in charge of further research. The aforementioned research would include hatching the live specimens from my staff."

"That is correct."

"Well, I don't know how you guys like to operate, but… well, I've gotta be blunt here. I'm in charge of this colony, and I make a habit of not making my personnel do anything I wouldn't. If they're all going to be impregnated by Xenos, then I'm gonna go first. Positive reinforcement is a more powerful incentive than threat of punishment – surely you people would know this by now."

There was a thoughtful silence from the other occupant of the room, but Halm didn't seem to be threatened by it. If anything, he seemed satisfied, perhaps because he was having the intended effect on his interrogator.

"Perhaps you're right about that," the voice agreed tentatively. "New approaches are always welcome in this field, I suppose. So, I am to assume the reason you have picked the Queen to impregnate you over a simple drone is purely symbolic?"

"Well, it ain't to stoke my ego, if that's what you're asking."

"I like to be thorough, Mister Halm. We don't need a megalomaniac on our hands." The papers were shuffled once more, and a briefcase clicked shut.

"So, did I pass professor? My mom's gonna kill me if I go back home with an F."

"Your request has been granted. End of session." _Click_. The screens went dark, before flickering back to the directory in which Tyler had found the video.

"Ulterin," Tyler repeated. "It can't be too far from here; we don't have to go home empty-handed."

"Absolutely not," Jake growled. "We head straight back home and report to the Lieutenant. We don't have intel on this place, or any guarantee of finding anything. What's more, Jeica will send a search party after us if we're late back. We cannot risk such a colossal waste of resources. We're moving out. McDain! Burtz! Pack it up, we're done here!"

"And what about me?" Sheila demanded. "These guys are gonna report me, and you _know_ that's a death sentence, especially considering what went down here." That gave Jake pause. Could they take her with them? A week was a long time for something to go wrong…

"She can have my pod," Tyler reasoned. "Can't do anything if she's frozen. I still don't trust the robot enough to use it anyway." Jake couldn't argue with that logic, and so nodded, motioning for the security chief to stand.

"Here, you'll need this," Jake told her as he held out his spare mask. "We'll take the elevator to external comms and high-tail it to the ship from there. Walk in the park." And so, without any trouble to speak of, they did.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **Planet Ulterin, High Orbit  
1423 hours  
Mission Time: N/A  
Unnamed Squad**

"You fucking asshole."

Tyler was unmoved by his friend's words, his ass planted firmly on his makeshift workbench in the rec room.

"Relax, it's three days, and I've already radioed ahead," Tyler drawled, not seeing the trouble with his actions. Using sly manipulation, he'd convinced Larry the only way for the colonists to truly come to trust synthetics was if he let him change course. "The corporation changes its code base every month, so it was now or never really. We broadcast the codes I stole from the last place, we march down there in Wey-Yu uniforms with the big scary Xenomorphs and declare we have live specimens in need of containment. Look, I even made fake collars for them to wear."

Tyler motioned towards his work bench, and true to his word, four large, metal rings lay idly with green lights blinking dramatically by their clasps. "Come on, you know I wouldn't do this without thinking it through. I've had three days, remember? Trust me, we can do this. We _need_ to do this. We need that Queen so we can get our Hive up and running and beef up our forces and actually put up a half-fucking-decent fight."

"You went against my orders!" Jake snapped back. "You've put everyone's lives in danger because of your massive ego and ignored everything I've said! What if they moved the Xenos again? What if the last place radioed ahead and warned them we might come? We could be walking right into a trap."

"Okay, listen here you bigoted idiot. _You_ kidnapped _me_ , stole my peaceful life away from me, turned my lover into a hive-mind sheep and wrapped me up in your stupid war – which you're going to lose – against my will. You can't just pull that shit then tell me you don't want me. So how about you gear up and get into character, because we're going to infiltrate a Weyland-Yutani colony, and that's the final word on the matter."

" _We're already here,_ " Advena put in. _"We might as well follow through_." Jake nodded. Yeah, it would be nice to have a Queen around, to breed more Xenomorphs, expand the Hive, pair up all the Unbonded with companions to –

"Advena," Jake barked. "Stop." The rose-tinted thoughts slowly snaked out of his mind with an emotion of apology from his lover, leaving him with his seething anger once more. He sighed and picked up his Pulse rifle from where it had been leaning against the wall. "Fine, we stick to your plan. But if we get made, you follow my every order to the letter. Got it?"

"Yessir," Tyler replied, sliding off the table with the self-satisfied smirk that made Jake want to strangle him. The scientist headed off to the cabin and began establishing contact with the colony below, leaving Jake to organise his men and give them a run-down.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Advena's hiss provoked genuine fear in Jake for a moment, before he remembered who she was and that it was all an act. He was leading the small group down the ramp and into the colony while Burtz and McDain took up the rear, keeping their weapons trained on the aliens' backs while simultaneously serving as a shield between them and their 'charge', Tyler, who wielded nothing but a dud remote, supposedly to control the collars.

When the heavy entry doors rumbled open, they were met with a security force welcome party. These guys weren't pushovers like the last joke of a security force either; they were full-plated visors-down-guns-up colonial marines.

"You have those things well-controlled," the commanding officer commented as his marines beefed up their 'security detail'.

"We had some pretty successful tests," Tyler replied, flourishing his remote. "But don't get too comfy; they're probably just biding their time."

"Not really the actions of a mindless animal, don't you think?" the marine shot back, a little too angrily. Jake cast an uneasy glance back at Advena. Something felt off here. Tyler grunted noncommittally, keeping a cool demeanour. Damn, he was too good at this.

"If you're implying it's cruel treatment, then I can't really answer you one way or the other; I'm not paid to question my employer's morals, I'm paid to keep these things under control." Jake glanced at his watch. In two minutes, the hack Tyler had left in place would take out the primary power, giving them a few seconds of darkness before the backup generators kicked in. That was their time to strike, and they would hopefully be in the right place when it happened.

"How much farther to the cells?" Jake demanded gruffly, trying to keep a façade of disinterested annoyance, as if this was just some stupid job he was being ordered to do every day for the past month.

"Not far," the same marine dismissed him, before returning his attention to Tyler suspiciously. "You sound like someone who knows a lot more than he's letting on. A lot more than he's paid to know. Why don't you tell me what you really think of the aliens?" Jake took a deep breath and gently slid the safety off his Pulse Rifle. He'd give Tyler another shot, but things were heating up, and he needed to be ready. Ready for this all to go horribly wrong like he'd expected.

"Are you asking my professional opinion, or something else?" Tyler inquired without faltering, though Jake, who knew his ulterior motives, could clearly see it was a tactic to bide time to create an answer.

"So now you're a professional, ay?" Well, this was backfiring. The marine held up a closed fist, and the convoy halted. "You think I'm an idiot, boy? I know what you're up to. Put that safety back on sergeant, and put your weapons on the ground, slowly. All of you." Jake's heart skipped a beat in fear. They'd been made, they'd lost the element of surprise. But how? Had Tyler's blunder really been that obvious? No, the marine had called out him readying his weapon, which meant they had eyes elsewhere. They had been expecting trouble. An ambush.

Jake sighed, pushed the safety back into place, and began lowering his weapon to the floor, already frantically sending Advena instructions mentally. Hopefully, these marines didn't know the full extent of their capabilities. Burtz and McDain were making to put their own weapons on the floor, and once there, they all straightened up and placed their feet on the guns, ready to kick them towards the soldiers who had their weapons trained on the group. But, rather than flicking their booted feet forward, they slid the guns backwards and dived away even as their Xenomorph companions snatched the weapons up and flicked the safeties off in one swift motion. "Shit!" the marine cried out in surprise. There was no cover in the corridor, which meant things would get very messy if anyone opened fire. Luckily, his team had a trick up their sleeve as well, and it was already well into motion.

Just as quickly as the weapons had been retrieved, they were knocked out of the aliens' hands by dark blurs which shot at them from the ceiling. Jake was thrown against the wall with enough force to daze him, and his arms were seized and twisted behind his back by strong, enormous and slightly bony hands. Burtz and McDain had met similar fates, while Tyler was simply held at gunpoint with his hands in the air, unarmed and non-threatening as he was in his civilian guise. The Xenomorphs were pinned down by two of their own kind each, strong ones, giving them no room to flail a single limb. "And what's your professional opinion on that, Sir?" the marine asked Tyler mockingly, his rifle trained on the scientist's chest.

"Funny thing actually, you're going to feel like a total jackass in a few seconds." The marines' leader cocked his head, and a second later Tyler's watch gave two short, shrill beeps. Then the lights cut out. Tyler's glasses flickered on, giving him night vision. Unfortunately, the opposing Xenomorphs also had their natural night vision, but Tyler had been thorough. He tapped his wrist device, and all four collars on his Xenomorph friends whined loudly and exploded into flashes of light, blinding anyone without the proper protection. That is to say, everyone who wasn't wearing Tyler's glasses. It was enough to startle the Xenomorphs pinning down his friends, allowing the four Xenos to tear free and stumble around blindly while Tyler retrieved a gun and struck its stock against the leader's head, tearing his helmet loose and forcing him to the floor. The marine raised his rifle, still trying to blink away the pain in his eyes, but Tyler smacked it aside with the back of his hand and ripped the man's pistol from its holster.

 _Clunk_. The corridor was flooded with light just as the last soldiers recovered from the flashbang. Four collar-wearing Xenomorphs stood in the centre of a group of their own kind, brandishing a variety of mis-matched weapons they'd picked up in the confusion threateningly, while Tyler stood behind the marines' leader, a pistol pressed to the back of the helmetless man's head. Everyone was frozen with tension, not wanting to make the first move.

"So," Tyler began, "this is awkward."

"What the fuck do you want, you corporate scum?" the captive marine growled.

"Corporate…? Dude, I thought you said you were onto us!" Tyler exclaimed with a half-laugh. Then his face fell. "Wait, why did you attack us if you thought we were Wey-Yu?"

"Wait, you're not Wey-Yu? Then who sent you here?"

"I'm the one with the gun pointed at your skull, so I'll be the one asking, and you'll be the one answering."

"You didn't even turn the safety off." Jake grimaced at that. Tyler hadn't, in fact, turned the safety off for fear of accidentally letting off a round into the man's head. Stupid moral code, why had Jake ever praised him for it?

"Wanna bet your life on it, buddy?" The marine did, apparently. He whirled around, smacking the gun wide so even if it had been in a position to fire, it wouldn't hit anything. Then he rammed the palm of his hand into Tyler's chest, knocking him back, and twisted his wrist, freeing the weapon from his hand and catching it, flicking the safety off with his thumb. The weapon fell from his hand immediately afterwards when the blade of a combat knife thunked into his forearm.

"… _Fuck!_ " he exclaimed, curling his fingers in agony. He turned, and sure enough, Sal was brandishing another knife he'd stolen from a marine's chestplate threateningly, ignoring the Xenomorphs his aliens were currently keeping at bay with low, warning hisses. One tried to push through, but was promptly thrown aside by Advena and growled at admonishingly. It was clear that none of the colony's Xenomorphs had military training like the rebels' did. The only reason the room wasn't being torn apart by a vicious and feral fight to the death was everyone was too confused as to what was going on, and the only way to figure it out was to ask the other side, which generally works best when they're alive. Despite this, they were all tensing up for an all-out assault via overwhelming numbers when Tyler interrupted the scuffle once again.

"So, all rude attempts to murder me aside, I think everyone here would benefit from a bit of a, how you say, parley?" The marine thought it over for a moment, then huffed in annoyance and stood.

"Stand down everyone; let's hear these assholes out. What the hell do you want?"

"Well… uh… actually, this complicates things," the scientist mused. "We wanted the Queen, but if she's in allegiance with you guys, she's not going to be a whole lot of use. I suppose we could settle for some Royal Jelly then." The marine closed his eyes for a moment, holding up a finger to indicate he should wait.

"She wants to talk to you." His eyes fluttered back open again, but his demeanour had changed. He was body-swapped.

"Greetings, little ones," the Queen spoke softly through the marine, taking careful stock of the room. "It is a relief to see no blood has yet been shed." She glanced down at her temporary body's arm. "Or, at least, not fatally. We should let this man get to a doctor." An opposing Xenomorph nodded and stepped forward, body subtly shifting to a straighter posture and that same keen, swooping gaze. The marine nodded gratefully and trotted away, down the corridor, causing a few of the rebels to tense up instinctively. " _I assume you have all gained the ability of telepathy?_ " the Queen inquired in her natural voice, through the eager Xenomorph drone who had stepped forward.

"Yeah, that's right," Tyler confirmed, his mind racing with the implications of the Queen body swapping with so many different people so naturally. The others finally found the wherewithal to join him standing before the honourable royalty in such a humble form.

" _Excellent. Now you may ask me as you wish._ " Jake glanced to Tyler, but he wore the same look of confusion. Sparing him the indignity, he proclaimed:

"What?"

" _You said you had come here for me. I do hope your intention was not to kidnap me, but rather to converse._ "

"Uh, well, actually," Jake chuckled awkwardly, "the intention was to, er, _rescue_ you… from the Weyland-Yutani corporation. But you seem quite comfy here with them. So perhaps if we could just take some Royal Jelly and leave…?"

" _Hmm… I think I am beginning to understand what is happening here. I believe it would be best if you all came to see my Companion and I in person. These warriors will lead the way._ " The rebels complied, seeing as they were already vulnerable, mostly unarmed and outnumbered – what did they have to lose?

"So, theory," Tyler murmured in hushed tones to Jake as they walked side-by-side, following the lead of the marines and Xenomorphs. Put together, there was quite the small army. Jake almost felt a little touched that they'd warranted that kind of an opposing force to take them down. "That CEO guy we saw in the video? He hatches the Queen, somehow forms a Bond with the Queen, then rebels against the Corporation. The Wey-Yu sends a couple of teams to investigate after he takes over and the colony goes dark, so he wipes the database of the colony's records, hence why we couldn't find anything."

Jake nodded, not really caring to offer an opinion on the matter seeing as they were about to find out anyway. Once they began getting close to the colony's core, he noticed some of the vent openings showing signs of resin and, sure enough, a little more walking had them at a set of heavy doors, permanently held open by hardened Xeno goo. The sergeant paused as he gazed at the imposing tunnel of darkness, flowing patterns like spines lining the walls, curling intricately, hiding monsters from sight so unwary souls would wander within with a false sense of security and once they were too far in they would find themselves with claws and teeth and wicked bladed tails tearing them apart, slicing them, crushing their bones, squeezing the fight from their lungs as the crushing oppressing darkness sunk into their core they would be impregnated, infected with the very things which sought to end the lives of them and everyone they loved, their last moments screaming terror as their chests exploded –

A strong hand gripped his, wrapping around his sweaty palms completely like a warm blanket, soothing his spinning head. He leaned against his alien companion for a moment, humiliated when he noticed the entire group had stopped to shoot him concerned looks. Advena simply held him and gave the others the go-ahead, feeling awful that she had once accused him of hating resin for his own selfish reasons. Two of the colony's marines broke off and made themselves cosy nearby, likely keeping guard, along with two Xenos who might have been their companions, or simply backup. The rest carried on within.

"Is… he okay?" McDain asked worriedly to Tyler. He would be in the know, as one of Jake's close friends.

"My guess is he may have some form of PTSD from the bug hunt he met Advena on. A lot of people died in pretty horrific ways, I imagine," was the scientist's answer. McDain nodded and fell back in line with Burtz, not really comfortable staying close to the gay man longer than he needed.

" _I can assure you this Hive was built on much better morals; both humans and Xenomorphs worked together to make this place a warm and welcoming home for both our species,_ " a nearby Xeno chimed in helpfully. " _And if you really do have peaceful intentions, your people are more than welcome to stay. It may seem quite dull, and lifeless, and claustrophobic, and artificial… but it's really not that bad! Especially seeing as we have freedom and family here! Being trapped in a metal box with recycled air seems a small price to pay for all that…_ "

"Have you guys not tried to, you know, move?" Tyler inquired curiously. It seemed despite their natural tendencies for spaces such as the colony, the aliens didn't much like the place.

" _With what? We don't have any ships big enough to hold our Queen, let alone our entire population_ ," the Xeno replied miserably. He did his best to perk up, however, after remembering he was in the presence of guests. " _But it's not so bad, really. It's bigger than the cells we were given, and we're not experimented on, starved and studied on a daily basis._ "

Finally, they arrived in a massive chamber, next to the reactor, which had an arching ceiling and droves of eggs stacked neatly in designated areas or custom-built shelving units. Tyler couldn't help but smile at the cute display of symbiosis. Egg racks. That was a good idea; one to propose to the construction crew back on Altin.

"Holy shit," Tyler whispered, breathlessly. "They never actually let me see a Queen before. Now I can see why." He cast a sideways glance to the Xeno he'd been talking with. "Do we like, bow or something?"

" _That will not be necessary,_ " the Queen informed him mirthfully. Even with their superior hearing, there was no way a Xeno could have heard him in such hushed tones from the other side of the enormous room. She must be linked deeply with all of her subjects, enough so that she could use their ears to listen in on him, which made him shiver at the thought. What an invasion of privacy. " _I suppose we should start with our story of how this came to be; you are undoubtedly curious, no?_ "

"I'm always willing to learn a new thing or two," Tyler said casually, defensively trying to hide his true passion towards the subject. He was bursting with curiosity, to be honest. Not just at how this all came to be – he could piece the most important parts together himself – but more about how a fully-functioning Hive worked, and just how strong, mentally and physically, a Queen really was. Burtz and McDain were silent, simply staring around in awe. It wasn't too far of a stretch to assume they hadn't seen an infestation before, nor a Queen. It must be more than a little overwhelming.

A small group of Xenomorph Runners scurried in carrying various pieces of furniture, before departing just as promptly as they'd arrived, having set up a small table with four seats in record time, perfectly synched. Probably because they were being conducted by the Queen's superior mind, if Tyler had to guess. He carefully took a seat and waited as a merry-looking man approached. As he took a seat across from the scientist, Tyler recognised him as Abraham Halm, the CEO of this colony.

"Feel free to take a seat," the man invited the other two. Loco curled into a little ball, which Burtz promptly became entangled with silently. McDain shrugged and took a seat on the floor also, smiling softly when Skater laid herself down behind him so he could lean on her. Abraham shrugged and leaned forward eagerly. "I'm assuming you're their leader?"

"In terms of intellect, yes. In terms of rank, not so much," Tyler explained. "I'm not technically part of the Resistance; I don't like being bossed around. It also means that no matter what I do, I technically can't betray them because I was never on their side anyway. Not that I'm planning on it, but hey, plan for every contingency and you'll never be caught off-guard." Abraham raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, people say I tend to go off on tangents a lot, my bad." Sal chose that moment to plop his rear down on the ground next to his seat and nudge his arm comfortingly, making the young man chuckle.

"So, you want to hear what this colony is all about, yes? Hear its history, how we came to this point, and where our allegiances lie?"

"Well, I've already figured all that out – not to burst your bubble or anything. Decent human being somehow makes it to CEO of a Xenomorph research branch, probably because the Wey-Yu needed to try different approaches, including one of compassion, which required said decent human being in order to accommodate. Decent human being wants to be impregnated with Queen because he doesn't feel right asking his men to do something he wouldn't do himself, Queen is all like 'hey, this guy's pretty cool. Sure, I'll Bond with him'. Somehow – probably due to the Queen's remarkably strong mental abilities – you establish a Bond without any verbal communication and work out how to communicate telepathically. Some stuff happens where you rebel against the Wey-Yu because you like your new gargantuan – no offense ma'am – girlfriend and don't want these guys to be experimented on anymore, take over the colony, wipe the servers so nobody knows where to find you or your alien friends and try to make a comfy life for yourself in this miserable block of metal, likely formulating plans on how to escape to a better planet where you can actually walk outside without asphyxiating to death. Did I miss anything?"

"Very impressive Mister…?" Abraham congratulated him, though he didn't sound very impressed. He sounded like how people sound when they're dealing with someone who's tolerable, but not exactly fun to be around, but they have to be polite for some reason or another. In other words, he was humouring Tyler and felt just a little exasperated at how egotistical he seemed. That to Tyler, was how inferior minds expressed their grief at realising the person before them was astoundingly smarter than they could ever hope to be. He took it as a compliment and his self-satisfied grin reflected that.

"Doelle, Tyler Doelle." He considered throwing in a quip about being the smartest person in the Resistance, but felt that might be overdoing it, and probably wouldn't help improve the CEO's disposition towards the Resistance. Instead, he simply extended his hand across the table.

"Abraham Halm." Tyler, of course, already knew this, but again, he didn't deem it necessary to push this man's buttons anymore. They shook briefly, Abraham's face stony and business-like while Tyler simply wore his sly smirk.

"Now, Mr. Halm, I'm going to go so far as to say the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had no real way of guessing we would be coming here looking for the Queen, as that would require a strong understanding of Xenomorph social structure and an intensive period of research on my background, followed by a lot of organising, predicting and strategising that would ultimately hinge millions of dollars of resources on blind luck when they know eventually we're going to rock up to their doorstep like a bunch of idiots anyway. Under that assumption, it is fair for me to draw the conclusion that this is not, in fact, a trap laid out to catch us rebel scum and that this all unfolded as I said so, and by extension, it is fair to say that we can trust you. Unfortunately, that leaves us with a one-way partnership as you'd have to be an idiot to trust me. You don't look like an idiot, Mr. Halm, so here's my snag: I have a plan that would greatly benefit both of our people, but in order for you to ever consider accepting my deal, I first have to present something to you which will gain me your trust. That's as far as I've gotten here, as trust is often difficult to obtain."

"You can start by talking like a normal human being, for starters. It would be a little less off-putting," Abraham grumbled.

"Meesa wanna do mutual benefit, but meesa needs ta knowsa how ta convince ya."

"God knows the Company would have sent someone who was a bit less of an asshole. The solution is a lot simpler than you seem to think Mister Smart Guy. All you gotta do, is join our Hive. From there, memory sharing and Hive Sense will quite literally make you unable to lie. If you've got nothing to hide, then it's easy peasy." Now it was Abraham's turn for a self-satisfied smirk as he leaned back in his chair. That was one downside to being the smartest person around; if someone does outsmart you, they feel like they're suddenly Einstein's third coming. "Well, you got an answer for me?"

"Okay, let's just get this out of the way. I trust you on a let's-work-together kind of level, not a come-on-in-and-read-all-my-private-thoughts-feelings-and-memories-like-some-kinda-fucking-book level. Besides, I'm not even the leader here. If anyone's gonna join your Hive, it's our sergeant; Jacob Harlor." Oh how it irritated Tyler when the shoe was on the other foot; Abraham had pushed a sensitive button, and the subtle tug of his lips into a victorious smirk told of just how soon he was going to forget it. Which was never, by the way. "I've had a pretty shitty life so far, and I'd rather not have to relive it. Memory sharing is like… mental vomiting. It all gushes out and you can't stop it, you think you're gonna pass out because you can't breathe, but then it ends and you gasp for breath before the next round starts." Tyler shuddered. "Yeah no, I'll leave that to the sergeant."

Strangely enough, that wiped the victorious expression off the man's face and replaced it with… concern?

"That's… not how it's supposed to feel."

" _It could very likely be a symptom of having repressed memories,_ " the Queen added thoughtfully.

"Look, are we here to psychoanalyse me, or are we going to make an alliance? I've got lots of sex to have with my boyfriend and lots of junk to tinker with, so if we could all move along, that'd be nice."

"Well, go fetch this sergeant of yours then; we're all eagerly awaiting."

"Uh, right. About that. He's not too keen on coming in here, so maybe if we could come out of the Hive…?"

" _Out of the question, unfortunately,_ " the Queen informed him with a slow shake of her massive head. " _Joining a Hive requires close proximity to the Queen, and as I am now, it will be hard to be mobile._ " She gestured to where the large ovipositor attached to her body, and Tyler gave a nod of understanding. He knew from addendums of past experiments that once a Queen detached from their ovipositor, they had to grow a new one to lay eggs again. A huge waste of time and effort if this alliance thing fell through.

"Look, I'll do it," McDain sighed, finally stepping forward with his arms splayed indifferently. He was very clearly nervous however, despite how he wanted to appear. "I don't have a lot to hide, and you'll probably find something usable in there from Reveles station." The Queen nodded sagely and bent her head down to meet the comparatively tiny man. Just her head alone was as tall as he was, which was intimidating, to say the least. But bravely, he stepped forward, instinctively outstretching a hand to touch her domed head, before screwing his eyes shut in concentration. "Skater and I found physical contact made Bonding easier," he explained quietly.

From the outside, not much could be told from the breathless silence in the room. But to McDain and the Queen… flashes of memories, thoughts and feelings were exploding into their minds faster and faster as the Bond strengthened, Skater joining in to keep McDain calm as she knew this could only be accomplished with complete, conscious and willing effort. She guided her partner through the process, gently steering his mentality in the right directions to accept the Queen's mind into his own. And once there, something of a mental seed was planted, quickly blossoming into a link.

Gasping, McDain jerked his hand back, glancing around the room frantically as if he had only just become aware of the dozens of Xenomorphs observing the interaction. Whispers whirled around in his mind – their voices, their thoughts, their feelings – for but a few moments, then they were gone, fading back to their rightful owners. His connection to them, however, remained. He could feel it, right in the back of his mind, waiting to spring forth at his command not unlike the Bond he shared with Skater, though her presence was the loudest, and for that, he was thankful. The Queen came a close second, however, her strength and compassion thrumming in the air, just waiting to be accepted whenever he needed it.

" _Interesting…_ " the Queen hummed. " _You follow this Jeica… almost blindly, if you do not mind my saying._ " And McDain didn't. The presence in his head spoke only with concern for his safety – the Queen would not hear of any of her subjects being manipulated by anyone, no matter how smart or influential. It was touching, really, to see her so readily treat him as her own child – but then again, it felt like they had known each other for years somehow.

"I trust her," McDain answered carefully. "She's gotten me out of a hell of a lot of shitty situations, pulled her squads through hell and back and never left a man behind. And, well, you probably saw my memories of Jahora." The Queen had seen what happened on Jahora through him; when a Bond was established in such a way as they had just done, the memories exchanged were the ones most important to the people involved; their defining moments and treasured memories. The horrors of Jahora had been a defining moment for McDain.

Vicious, quadrupedal, bullet-proof-scaled creatures inhabited Jahora, eventually overrunning all but one of the colonies on its surface. The final colony held some high-priority Wey-Yu execs who, when the colony's military outposts were attacked, ordered an orbital strike on said outposts to stop the creatures from reaching them before they could evacuate. McDain had been stationed in one of those outposts. Leg torn off by one of the monsters, bleeding out on the ground, bombs powerful enough to level cities falling from space, then Jeica shows up. Orders her men to load up everyone they can into trucks, personally grabbing a few dozen of them herself, and ships them back to the colony to be stabilised. She had driven out of the safety of the colony, through creature-infested territory, into the line of fire of nearly-nuclear-level bombs to grab survivors. Crazy bastard was a god-damned hero as far as he was concerned. Even if this whole Resistance thing got him killed, he'd gotten to go home, see his family again and drink with his friends on shore leave far more times than he would have if he'd been turned to ash on Jahora.

The Queen could not deny that and in fact, if McDain's memories of the battle on Reveles station were anything to go by, it was Jeica who secured the escape of the captive Xenomorphs and rallied the marines to fight their fellow soldiers for a shot at freedom. The Queen would have no objections to joining forces with such a fierce leader, even if it did worry her just how strong McDain's loyalty to her was.

Abraham chuckled and turned back to Tyler.

"The missus has already made her mind up, and there's no denying you are who you say you are, so I guess the only thing left is to figure out how we go about this."

"Excellent!" Tyler exclaimed, relieved. He already had a few fundamental ideas about this part of their discussion. "So, my thoughts were this: we go back to our colony and bring a ship capable of housing all of you guys – yes, we do have one of those. Impressive, right? Then, we take you all back to our colony, where you and your Queen will establish themselves as co-leaders or something, and we kick some Weyland ass together, or die in a pitiful display of patriotism together. In the meantime, you'll be able to enjoy our colony's lush forests, open fields, sunny beaches and close-knit small-town community."

"What he means to say is," McDain butted in, "we're gonna shove those bureaucrats off their throne and establish Xenomorphs as a sapient species to live alongside us. He's a bit of a pessimist – and an asshole, if you couldn't tell."

"Pessimism and realism are two very closely related ideals."

"So, how does the brat's proposition sound?" McDain inquired, ignoring the scientist.

"Not all of us here want to fight," Abraham responded hesitantly. As much as he longed to leave the cramped colony for the fresh air, trees, grass and oceans, he wasn't going to force his people to fight a battle they might not believe in.

"Hey, it's a colony," Tyler reminded him. "Sure, we have plenty of soldiers standing by, but we've also got shops to run, houses to build, kids to teach, importing to do and all the rest. If you don't want to fight, there's plenty of backseat roles which need filling. Even for Xenos."

" _Then it is settled,_ " the Queen hummed happily. " _We shall await your return eagerly and pack our things in the meantime._ "

"Excellent! I'll get on the comms immediately and tell Jeica about it; I'm sure she'll be thrilled to have some more competent and trustworthy additions to her militia. You lot coming?" Burtz lazily hauled herself to her feet, Loco doing the same after stretching his body out along the floor like an oversized cat. McDain and Skater, however, hesitated.

"Uh, actually… tell Jake I'm gonna stay put, will you? For, uh, to answer any questions they may have in the meantime, and stuff," McDain said lamely, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as an excuse to avert his eyes. Despite obviously seeing through the pathetic excuse for an excuse, Tyler didn't question it and just nodded.

"He's gonna be pissed that nobody's treating him like a proper commanding officer, but hey, pissing people off is practically my second job. See you in a couple of weeks then, corporal." McDain chuckled gratefully and gave a casual salute.

"Godspeed Mister Doelle."

~~~~~~~~~~(2 Days Later)~~~~~~~~~~

"Mister Doelle." Tyler groaned and shoved his blankets off moodily, uncaring that the android could see his naked body.

"Dude, ship clock, exists for a reason. What do you want?" he grunted out as he slipped out of Sal's arms and into some clothes, partly to make himself presentable, but mostly because the ship was freakin' cold compared to his comfy bed.

"We have an incoming ship on the radar," the android informed him in his tired-sounding monotone. Tyler's eyes went wide and he froze mid-belt-buckle.

"What? Why the fuck do you sound so calm about it? Wake the others!"

"Do you want to come to the cockpit first? There may not be any reason for concern."

"We're never that lucky. Wake the others, I'll take the controls." Larry sighed – something which Tyler found annoyingly contradictive as the android lacked any lungs to do so – and made his way to the cryo chamber to bring the crew out of hypersleep. Tyler, in the meantime, booked it to the captains chair, huffing in frustration when he found the comms panel flashing insistently. They were being hailed. Option 1: Ignore it. But then the ship would think they were all asleep with a low-level android manning the ship and would likely blow a hole in the hull to capture the cryo pods. A problem considering none of them would be in said pods, thus rendering them vulnerable to asphyxiation in space. Option 2: Answer the hail, get forced to surrender due to the fact they were out-sized and outgunned by the comparatively massive military cruiser.

Neither option was good, but one was clearly superior. "Ahem. This is, uh…" Shit. What was the name of the ship he was on? He'd never bothered to look. "This is the little ship here… Hi."

"For god's sake Tyler; it's us." Jeica's voice. Thank god. Tyler heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair. Then bolted back forward again.

"Hang on a minute; you were on comms from Altin just two days ago! How the hell did you get out here so fast?"

"New ships, courtesy of our Russian ally, they're fast as hell. Prepare to dock, and I'll tell you all about it while we head back to that colony you were telling me about."

 **A/N: Well, now I've gone and got myself invested in McDain's character. I suppose you should expect to see more from him later then.**


	8. From the Ashes

**A/N: Yet another chapter which has my aversion to excessive swearing butting heads with my desire to keep characters authentic. Seriously, go back and watch the movies and count how many times they chain swear words like it'll give them a Mortal Kombat combo or something. Mostly pointing fingers at that one scene from number three where every second word is some variation of 'fuck'. End A/N.**

 **Colonial Defence Vessel 'Big Bad Bug Buster' S209-1437  
0614 hours  
Fireteam Raindance**

Corporal John Richards slipped through the double doors before they could fully swing shut, hot on the heels of a fellow soldier as everyone made their way into the mess hall. He shook the fatigue of morning drills from his muscles and grabbed an MRE from the front of the room with about as much enthusiasm as one can muster when faced with the tedious task of chewing through an MRE.

As with every morning, he made his way over to his fireteam's usual spot towards the left side of the room, finding he was the last to arrive. He was confused to find that his team was very energetic this morning, fidgeting, chatting animatedly, eyes bright and awestruck grins wide. All three pairs of eyes turned to him as he sat down, conversation ceasing for a moment before suddenly assaulting him with questions.

"Dude, have you seen that video yet?" Private Robby Kenwin demanded the moment his ass touched the uncomfortable metal bench seat.

"Oh, yeah," John muttered sarcastically, "I've totally seen _that_ video, yeah, that one video, y'know, the video. The only video worth seeing out of the trillions of videos available at any one point in time. Yeah, of _course_ I've seen _that_ video you bloody twat." Robby huffed in annoyance, but used to his CO's sarcastic ways, simply scrabbled for his PDA and began tapping away at it, likely locating this 'video' of his.

"Trust me," Private Pauline Eswerth piped up, "it's gonna blow your fucking mind." John cast a glance at his final teammate, Private Garry Dean, who simply nodded through his mouthful of hash brown. Finally, Robby turned his screen around so John could see it, and the corporal groaned and shot his team a nasty look.

"Seriously?" he deadpanned, clearly unimpressed with the bold banner at the top of the screen which read: PornHub. "You know you can get into a lot of shit for stuff like this, right?"

"Yeah? Then so can the rest of the entire human race – this video is viral, man! I'm surprised you haven't seen it yet."

"Maybe because I don't jack off to… alien… porn…?" John trailed off as he read the tags for the sake of his quip. "Come on man, that's just –"

"No no!" Robby cut him off, putting the video on fullscreen. "Look at _which_ alien it is." John sighed and humoured his friend, pressing the play button. A clearly amateur video opened up with a silhouette creeping out of the darkness, sneaking up on a woman who was laying naked on her bed. John rolled his eyes, but Robby shot him a reprimanding look to tell him to keep watching. John's breath hitched as the creature finally came into the light, looming over the nude human with its intimidating stature.

"This is so fake," John growled. "There's no way in hell." The Xenomorph then hissed pleasantly as it received a cherishing hand tracing its jawline and rubbing its dome affectionately, slowly easing the duo into their foreplay. John quickly pushed the screen down onto the table, not wishing to view any further.

"It's already been analysed by thousands of reputable movie-whizz guys and scientists and stuff," Pauline explained, shaking her head slightly as if she couldn't quite believe it either. "It's totally real and, if you had the balls to watch the entire thing, you'd see it understands English, too. When she says faster, it goes faster, when she says harder, it –"

"I get it, thank you Pauline," John snapped. Recomposing himself, he turned back to Robby. "How the hell does that work? We've been at war with these things for centuries, and now all of a sudden they're open to fucking our brains out instead of blowing holes in our chests?" He paled suddenly. "Oh shit! What if it put one of those things inside her when it –" Garry cut him off by shaking his head and swallowing another mouthful of his breakfast.

"She's been posting rather regularly, long after the gestation period should have ended. So no, this isn't some new ploy to impregnate and kill us," he said dismissively.

"So, _if_ this is real," John began hesitantly, making sure to stress the 'if' as much as possible, "then what does that mean for us? Christ, we're scheduled for a bug hunt in three hours, and now you're telling me these things are intelligent? No way, you're just fucking with me."

"It doesn't mean shit," Pauline sniffed, "we knew we could fuck the Raiku back when we were at war with them, didn't stop us from kicking their dumb asses. It's simple; the bugs want to kill us, so we kill them first. Doesn't matter if they can understand us or not."

"Well, that's one way of looking at it, I guess," John muttered thoughtfully. Though the more he thought about it, the more he realised she was right. The Xenos have always been intelligent, there was no question about that, but they chose to hunt and kill humans, and they chose not to try and make positive contact, and so really, they chose to go to war with humanity. And it was his job to make them regret that choice.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **USS Power of Two (Formerly RSF** **И** **гла)  
1902 hours**

"Yeah, they don't really seem to want our help. I mean, fair enough, I wouldn't want a bunch of strangers rooting through my personal stuff either. We may be here a while, but it'll probably be worth it in the end," Jake spouted as he ducked through the doorway into a more secluded area of the ship. "So, you had some news you wanted us to see?" Jeica nodded from her seat at a comically-oversized table which was meant to seat several squads for briefing. Jake dropped himself into one of the nicely-padded chairs across from her and leaned forward impatiently. Advena, funnily enough, decided to do the same, pulling out a chair and plopping her rear on it, albeit with some awkward shuffling ensuing due to her tail. She ended up settling in a position which had her sitting on an angle with one shoulder – well, mid-back due to her height – and part of her back against the backrest and an elbow on the table's surface for support. Jake grinned uneasily when he picked up Advena's idle train of though; she was musing over how convenient it was for her having had her spikes brutally removed by Glover back on Reveles. It made a lot of things easier, like lying down on her back, for instance. Perfect organism her ass! Those things were a downright annoyance. If her current body died, she was coming back as something without spines, like a Runner.

"We actually managed to hit the big news ourselves, surprisingly. Well, not really, but our amateur pornstar has been a big hit all over; it's making people question their fight against Xenos, so that's progress. As for our Russian friends, well, take a look for yourself." Jeica slid a PDA across the table to him, a video already on-screen and ready to play.

The scene was a typical newsroom with a desk and a borderline-scantily-clad woman in a tight-fitting formal dress, small windows behind her projecting footage of far-off locations. Said location was a burning government building adorned with the sharp corners and curves of Russian alphabet.

"The unsettling confrontation on the Kaskitakov belt hit its crescendo at about eight o'clock this morning with Russian military forces storming the capital and forcefully seizing their government officials for imprisonment. Civilians have taken to the streets in celebration, praising their military leaders for their action against their empire. When asked by American press, one general had this to say on the matter." The camera cut away from the studio, enlarging the burning building which had been idling in the background where the Russian general in question stood stoically.

"We have stood by for too long now, allowing those with greed and malice to rule over us, oppressing their people and acting with harsh cruelty. No longer will we stand by and allow such corruption to poison our nation; we will cleanse our nation of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and all those who associate with them. We do not wish to fight America or her people, but if you choose to defend the greatest enemy humanity has ever faced, then we will not hesitate to declare war." The news room returned with the woman on show doing her best impression of concern she could muster without disturbing her perfect showroom façade.

"A truly terrifying statement by the temporary rulers of our neighbouring nation. The Weyland-Yutani's Russian branch has pulled out into American territory resulting in trillions of dollars of abandoned assets, leading some American citizens to fear they will put their Presidential ties to use in declaring war on Russia. For now, tensions are high, but no moves have been made by either side. More from our reporter on the ground, Chris Henson."

"Thank you Stacy. I'm here on planet California, surrounded by protestants against both the Russian military and the American branch of the Weyland-Yutani who are currently butting heads with one another. Both sides are fearing the worst and demand action from our own government." The stout man turned to a lanky fellow who had been standing out in the wings and outstretched his microphone. "Now, you are supporting the Russians, is this correct?"

"Yeah," the citizen replied, anger in his eyes. "The Wey-Yu has been corruptin' us for years and forcin' people into slave labour jobs 'n' stuff. They ain't ever done anythin' right by the people. I reckon if the Russians can get rid of 'em, we can too. Hell, we could even work with 'em and get rid of the Corp together. All I know f'sure is I ain't fightin' a war for those murderin' scumbag suits."

"Interesting," the reporter mused with well-faked enthusiasm, before turning his attention to his other side, where a middle-aged lady was waiting patiently. "And what do you, as a Weyland-Yutani supporter, have to say on the matter?"

"Well, I happen to believe that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has been paving the path for humanity's future ever since we separated from the Federation. Because they're power hungry? No, because nobody else would step up to the plate. The Weyland-Yutani Corporation saved us. If the Russians don't want the technological and scientific advancements, fine, then they can give the Corporation their assets back – our assets, our money. As an American-born Corporation, the Russians aren't only stealing from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, they're stealing from _us_ ; the people. And that is quite frankly unacceptable. We can't let the Russians get away with this."

"Incredibly thought-provoking arguments from both sides of the conflict," the reporter concluded, prompting a cut-away back to the studio.

"Very thought-provoking indeed," Stacy agreed, shuffling papers for dramatic effect. "In other news…"

The video stopped there, having gone through all the interesting parts. Jake leaned back in his chair with a whoosh of air. He ran a hand through his hair and just mulled over that for a few minutes.

"The Russians are trying to help us get rid of the Wey-Yu as best as they can without causing an all-out war," Jeica explained. "After they took over their government and kicked out the Corp, they sent us a message offering all the help they could provide. Supplies, training facilities, ships, but if any Americans outside of the Resistance find out about any of it, it's not going to end well. Russians supplying terrorists? It'll ruin both our images."

"But people are starting to feel the urge to resist," Jake put in. "You heard the guy; the Russians have inspired them, given them hope that it's possible to get rid of the Wey-Yu. If nothing else, this will at least bulk up our numbers."

"Mm, but we still have the problem of the Insurrectionists. They'll be the thing stopping people from taking the plunge. Unless we can find a way to set ourselves apart from them, this whole thing won't do us any good."

" _Tyler might be able to help out with that,_ " Advena suggested slowly, unsure if this was going to be one of those times where she was misunderstanding humanity's incessant politics. " _He was telling me a while back about how the Weyland-Yutani Corporation used advertising and propaganda to convince people to hate gays and give plausible deniability to their genetic experimentation agenda._ "

"An advertising campaign? For the resistance?" Jeica mused. "I mean, that's a great idea, but also… how the hell do you do that? Y'know, like, you can't exactly write 'come talk to us on Altin to review our policies!' on the bottom of a poster. I guess we can always ask the Resistance how they've done recruitments in the past, but I doubt they have anything more sophisticated than word of mouth."

"I think the most important part is that it gets people on our side. We don't necessarily need more recruits so much as sympathisers," Jake rebutted. Jeica's radio buzzed insistently, cutting the discussion off there so she could answer it.

"Lieutenant, the Queen is preparing to board now." Jeica smiled gratefully and thanked the soldier on the other end of the line. She'd asked to be informed of this so she could go and meet the gargantuan Xenomorph in person, without invading the colonists' personal space while they packed up. It seemed it was time for the two factions' leaders to meet.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~ **Planet Remington** **0903 hours** **Fireteam Raindance**

"Alright gentlemen, we're touching down in five, so let's make this quick!" Sergeant Butch yelled over the whine of the dropship's engines. "These things have been hiding on this planet for god knows how long, and for some reason they've chosen today to come out and terrorise the local colony. It's not our job to understand why, it's our job to get down there and kick their asses back into the pit of hell they crawled out of. More specifically, our platoon's job is to get to the source of these buggers and wipe out their nest. Now let's squash some bugs marines!"

"Oorah!" The loading ramp lurched open, and immediately the twelve soldiers poured out onto the grass below. John raised a hand to keep the bright sun from his eyes and glanced around shiftily. For some reason, he'd been expecting a grim, dark and uninviting barren warzone, but for once the cavalry had arrived before it was too late. Though after some reflection, he realised there was a tactical advantage to coming in the full swing of day; Xenos tended to hunt at night where they could be hidden by the shadows and darkness, which meant they would all most likely be sleeping in their Hive, all in one spot, ready to be burnt to the ground. Speaking of which… John quickly swung his flamethrower down from its shoulder strap and double-checked everything was connected properly and all the valves were open. Satisfied with the weapon, he stowed it once more and hefted his standard issue M14A Pulse Rifle, readying himself for what was to come.

Two more dropships swooped down to unceremoniously dump their passengers onto the ground before rocketing back up into the sky, not daring to touch down in such close proximity to a nest of 'landing-gear-humping aliens' as they had been dubbed by the fly boys.

The marines flicked on their visors, the display lighting up with their fireteam's status, their munitions count, and a motion tracker, which was non-standard as it added bulk to the gear, but if your battalion's sole purpose was to exterminate Xenos, your gear had in-built motion trackers, end of story.

"Alright kiddos; you know the drill," John murmured to his fireteam. He took point, stepping towards the colony's entrance. It wasn't a standard complex, as breathable atmosphere always meant more relaxed structures. The buildings were still dull and gunmetal grey, but they had a bit of space between them with paths and bench seats and lamp posts to liven the place up a little. For this reason, the entrance was a tall gate made of dull, spike-tipped bars, slightly ajar in its place hinged to the sturdy wire mesh fence which surrounded the colony. The tops were adorned with barbed wire, which spoke volumes about the local wildlife.

"I fucking hate it when you call us 'kiddos'," Pauline complained.

"We're on duty, Private," John reminded her with a ghost of a smile.

"I fucking hate it when you call us kiddos, _Sir_ ," she corrected herself. John allowed a chuckle before stepping over the threshold into the decrepit buildings beyond.

"So," Corporal Hill began over the radio in hushed tones, as if doing so would hide him from his superiors despite being on the main frequency. "We taking bets on who's gonna bag the most bugs? Or you afraid of sucking ass like last time, Richards?"

"Oh it's _on_ ," John growled, his attention not wavering from the nooks and crannies where Xenos would love to hide. He'd been trained on observable behaviour, and knew in situations such as this one the Xenomorphs would set up outposts in the outlying buildings to serve as lookouts. These ones wouldn't move as they had figured out through some kind of process of elimination that doing so would reveal them on the motion tracker – a lot more believable to John now he knew just how intelligent they were.

"Stow it, the both of you," Butch snapped. "Nobody's taking any bets. And if they were, they would be betting on Fireteam Watercress, and the losers would be owing the winners a round of beers."

"Up yours," Pauline scolded him. John cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, not that the private could see that through his visor. She managed to catch his meaning anyway, however. "Excuse me; up yours, _Sir_."

"Better," Butch grunted in gruff satisfaction. "Now seriously; shut the hell up. We don't have a perfect record because we run our mouths in enemy territory."

"Understood, Sir. We going business as usual, or we shaking things up because Hill's being a smartass?" John asked, mostly switched to serious mode.

"We've got some pretty open areas to deal with here, but seeing as most of them will be grouped up in the nest, I'd say Valhalla formation."

"I thought we agreed to change the name to 'Greek Wall'?" Hill spouted. "And also, who gets to be the wall?"

"We're doing it Valhalla, and Fireteam Watercress gets to be the wall because they keep forgetting to shut their god-damn mouth."

"Bravo Squad, how we doing?" another voice buzzed – Alpha Team's sergeant, tasked with patrolling the fences to ensure none of their enemies could escape the area. She also had three fireteams under her command, as opposed to Butch's two, a fact which the latter sergeant liked to whine about whenever he had one too many drinks between missions.

"Moving in," Butch replied, quietening down with a silent order for the others to do the same. Around about now was when the Xenos tried to frighten them off with a bash-and-dash. "About two blocks off the centre. How's the perimeter?"

"Nothing trying to get out yet, Bravo Squad. Fireteam Longbow is setting up shop in the weather station north-west of your position. Feel free to ping targets for long-ranged fire… kill-hogger."

"What's that – kssht – Squad? Can't – kssht – breaking up – kssht – _sniper pussies_ – kssht!" Butch jeered, making hissing noises into his mic.

"Alpha out," Alpha's sergeant sighed. Butch grinned and eyed his motion tracker.

"Alright, we got one moving in north. Wait for it…" he advised, holding up a finger.

"I swear," Private Farn, from Fireteam Watercress, sighed, "if it's me again I'm gonna –" He didn't get to finish that thought, however, as a black blur dropped from a building above where it had been out of range of their trackers, thumping onto the ground next to him and slamming its tail into his chest, before bolting. The experienced crew had, however, been expecting this and hadn't fallen for the motion bait meant to distract them, and instead gunned down the Xeno who had thought they'd had a free shot at the marines. Classic Xeno tactic; make a commotion to draw attention while another attacks from a blind spot; marines piss themselves and beat a hasty retreat.

Instead, the Xeno who'd attempted the old 'bash and dash' collapsed with dozens of bullets riddling its body. Its momentum carried it forward a few metres, before it slopped to a halt. It tried meekly to haul itself back onto its feet in desperation, but was swiftly executed by an under-slung grenade launcher.

"Eat shit Watercress; one down," Pauline exclaimed quietly. She glanced back to the rear, where Corporal Hill has brandishing a special finger just for her.

"Fuck, that one got me pretty good," Farn told the rest of his squad. Butch grimaced as he spotted the ugly gash through the steel chestplate, giving them a clear view of the uniform beneath.

"Good thing you're on wall duty, then," Garry noted with the barest hint of teasing in his tone. Farn rolled his eyes and slung his Pulse Rifle in favour of his flamethrower, the rest of Watercress quickly following suit. They quickly melded into formation, with Watercress taking up the front with their incinerator units while Raindance made as if they were physically tethered to one of the marines, pointing their rifles between the shoulders of the other Fireteam. When the time came, the flamethrowers would light up, creating a wall of flame which would keep the Xenos from advancing while the riflemen at the back would be able to pick targets and gun them down. It had proved to be one of the better strategies the squad had come across during their tours, especially when they hunkered down in an entrance/exit and trapped their enemies in a room.

They moved on to the colony's power plant, where they would make quick work of the nest within.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **USS Power of Two  
1925 hours**

"Fill my heart with song! Let me sing for ever more!" Tyler trilled, his voice muffled by the thick metal door which stood between Jake and the shuttle's interior. His voice was mingling with the soft melodies playing on the ship's speakers, and Jake couldn't help but smirk at the un-Tyler-like display. The scientist wasn't usually one for the simpler joys of life – or joys at all, for that matter. To hear him singing along to such a cheery song was a bit of a refreshing change of pace, actually. The sergeant rapped his knuckles against the hull patiently, and immediately the singing stopped.

Tyler appeared, opening the airlock and eyeing the marine in the hangar beyond. Jake could still hear the lyrics of 'Fly Me to the Moon' drifting throughout the small ship behind him.

"Do you make it a habit to blast your music like that when travelling?" Jake asked curiously. Tyler shrugged and twirled the spanner in his hand idly.

"I like to listen to music while I work. There's a lot of scientific evidence behind it being good for you and whatnot. Why, not a fan of the twentieth century?"

"Nah, I love Frank Sinatra. 'My Way' is one of my favourites from him. Anyway, Jeica wanted to talk to you. Took me ages to find you as well, what are you doing back on this dingy thing?"

"All my equipment's here," Tyler explained, "I'm pretty close to a breakthrough and didn't want to risk blowing the whole thing by moving it around." His eyes roamed around the expansive hangar for a moment, pondering something, before finally returning his attention to the marine before him. "We haven't really talked much since I screwed you over with the whole 'commandeering the ship' thing, have we?" Jake shook his head, giving up on trying to guess where Tyler was going with this at this point. The young man was so unstable that even the most obvious-seeming things turned out to be incorrect. "I guess, sorry, about that. Probably should have argued with you a bit more before just doing my own thing. I'm not gonna say I was wrong though, because I was right, and we have a Queen now because of me. But still. Sorry. I'll uh, yeah, tell Jeica I'll be right there."

And before Jake could get over his shock and confusion, Tyler had receded back into the Frank-Sinatra-filled shuttle. Aside from the usual arrogant prattle on the end there, Jake might have actually just received a heartfelt _apology_ from Tyler. Huh. Go figure.

He made his way to the ship's main rec room to find his dutifully-waiting girlfriend on the couch within, upside-down with her head hanging over the lip, a controller in hand so she could play the video game on the screen before her. Jake chuckled at the display and draped her tail over the backrest to make room for himself to sit down.

"Hiya 'Vee. Enjoying yourself?" he asked mirthfully.

" _Yeah._ " Well, that was unconvincing, and she was doing a pretty bad job of hiding her nerves from her human companion. He sighed, shuffled closer and rested a hand on her upturned belly, giving it slow, circular rubs.

"What's up?"

" _I dunno. Nervous. It's been a while since I last had a Queen and I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to another Bond like that, especially now that I've got you. Like, a millennia ago, back before we were turned into weapons by some tall assholes, it might have been different, but nowadays, a Xenomorph's first duty is to their Queen; to their Hive. It's been that way for so long because we didn't think we could Bond, but now that we can… I don't know. With the whole war thing, I barely have enough time with you to myself as it is. If I have to serve a Queen on top of all that…_ " Jake kissed her dome gently and felt her settle down a little.

"Well, nobody's asking us to pledge our allegiance to the Hive immediately. We can take as much time as we need, and we're definitely going to have a day on the water when we get back to the colony."

" _Really?_ "

"Really really. We have this beautiful ocean on our doorstep and I intend to at the very least go boating on it. We could make a day of it; pick out a bikini for you and everything." Advena swatted his shoulder with her tail playfully with a rapturous grin on her face.

" _Now that you mention it, I wonder if there's a Xeno form with tits? You'd like that, wouldn't you?_ "

"Considering that you guys hatch from eggs? They would probably be filled with acid. So no, thank you." Advena snickered and slowly rolled herself over, stretching her limbs out leisurely.

" _Are you sure? I could be like that chick on Austin Powers with the machine gun nipples. Just whip em out and fire acid at our enemies while they're too distracted gawking._ "

"When have you had the time to watch Austin Powers?"

" _Tyler showed me. He likes old stuff and Pre-Space-Earth pop culture. You should hang out with him more – we could do like a double date or something. In fact, spending a little time with him may improve his disposition of you~_ " Advena sing-songed the last bit, trying to make it sound as tantalising as possible. Honestly, she was sick of the little standoff thing the two humans were doing. They used to be friends, and Advena used to not have to choose between them – she wanted that back. And who knows, maybe Sal would grow on her too.

Jake grunted noncommittally, still not entirely convinced on what he thought of his friend. He swung pretty quickly from asshole to helpful then back again. Secretly, he hoped some miracle would cure him of whatever had changed him so drastically from the timid-seeming scientist who ran the Advena Project back on Reveles. Maybe the Queen's powerful and reassuring presence would soothe him?

Advena, picking up on his thoughts, nuzzled his chest reassuringly. " _Just give him some time and support; he'll come right eventually. It wasn't too long ago you tried to murder him, remember?_ "

"I mean, I prefer not to," Jake told her, "but yeah. Maybe I should have apologised?" Advena laughed her stuttering, hissing laugh, holding a claw to her face in a cutely-human display.

" _I don't think an apology exactly makes up for an attempt on someone's life, but that probably would have been a good start._ " Jake chuckled and pulled her in closer, enjoying their closeness for a moment. After all, with all that was going on, they might not have many moments like this left.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **Colonial Defence Vessel 'Big Bad Bug Buster' S209-1437  
1334 hours  
Fireteam Raindance**

"So, how soon do you think it's gonna be before we're fighting the Russians?" Garry wondered idly while he placed his helmet back onto the rack. John shrugged and placed his sidearm on a tray, under the watchful eye of the Armourer, then un-slung his Pulse Rifle while he mulled it over.

"Honestly, I think I'm more concerned about when we're going to have to start fighting our own people. First the rebels start stirring up more shit than usual, and now the Russians have gone all gung-ho and overthrown their government. Soon enough we might find ourselves wondering if we're on the right side."

"Light, Eswerth," the Armourer barked. Pauline huffed in annoyance, picked her Pulse Rifle up from the rack, slid the tactical light off its rail, and jammed the weapon back in, before tossing the light into the tray with John's pistol. She waved her hands at him in a 'happy now?' gesture and made her way out the room. "Christ it's like dealing with children," the Armourer grumbled as he plucked the piece of kit out of John's tray and separated it. "No wonder my CO ordered me to babysit your platoon." The three remaining marines ignored his remarks, continuing with their own conversation.

" _Do_ you think we're on the right side?" Robby asked curiously. John just shrugged again, leaning against the doorway idly despite the glare his loitering earned him.

"I don't think there really is a 'right side', just a lesser of two evils. I'd say the guys who aren't raiding merchant ships, destroying colonies, raping mothers and stealing resources would be the lesser evil." For some reason, Garry chuckled at this. A grim, dark chuckle.

"And which side is that? The Wey-Yu, or the rebels?" Garry almost managed to pull off a dramatic exit after the thought-provoking retort, but at that exact moment the room was plunged into a hue of red while buzzing alarms grated over the PA.

"Warning! Biological hazard detected! Section B-17 is currently under quarantine. All local personnel, please report to the nearest fortifiable area and await further instructions."

"Ah, fuck a duck," Pauline cursed as she ducked back inside the armoury. "That's us." John was already pulling out his radio.

"Fireteam Raindance to Bridge Crew, talk to me. What's the situation?" he demanded. It was highly unlikely the biological hazard was anything but a memento they'd picked up from their latest bug hunt, which would be dangerous for them as they lacked the element of surprise, a nest to target, and, for most of the crew in the section, weapons.

"Xeno spotted in the hangar bay, got into the vents before the fly boys could do anything about it. The area's locked down until the situation is resolved. How's your team?"

"Caught us in a ray of sunshine; we're in the armoury, ready to gear up and hunt this thing down."

"Happy to hear it Raindance. Try to regroup with the others; we've got marines holed up in the hangar control room, the elevator hub and cargo bay B-06. I'm sure they'd appreciate whatever gear you can bring them."

"Roger Bridge. Moving to hangar control." John frowned in mild irritation as he retrieved his gear from where he'd _just_ set it down with disciplined care and strapped himself back in. "Private Kenwin, grab your PDA from the lockers," he ordered. Robby made to protest, but caught his CO's commanding glare and conceded. With a weary sigh, he began typing in the combination to his locker where his personal belongings resided. "Private Eswerth, you're on the incendiary unit. Don't let that thing get close to us if it shows up. Maghn, help me carry some extra supplies."

"And what about me?" the Armourer demanded, folding his arms peevishly.

"What about you?" John shot back as he shouldered a fifth Pulse Rifle. He gestured to the room around him in a sweep of his arm. "Set up a couple of the hundred Auto's you have and make sure these guns are checked back in once we kick this thing's ass."

The Armourer huffed, but took the advice to heart and began setting up a couple of Auto Turrets in the entryway. John stepped outside and signalled his team to form up. "Alright Robby, pull up the security panel will you?" Robby fiddled with his PDA for a moment, then glanced briefly back up to his superior.

"Access code?"

"JBR775892." The private dutifully tapped the code in, and the word 'Processing…' briefly appeared on-screen as the request was sent to the Bridge, and then 'Accepted!' as they were cleared to access the section's security grid.

"Alright, we're up and running. We've got masses of IFFs in the hangar, elevator hub, cargo bay and armoury with a few stragglers in the corridors. Can't see any unidentified movement," he reported. "Do we know how many Xenomorphs we're dealing with here?"

"Angel?" John prompted. Dutifully, the ship's AI spoke through the device in Robby's hands.

"Upon return from deployment, it was detected that one organism of recognisable hazard was stowed away in Dropship J-14. Hazard is registered as Xenomorph XX121. Threat level: ALCON Delta."

"Piece of cake," John commented with the slightest smirk. "Just stay tight, keep an eye on motion and stay away from vents." They barely made it a few steps before Robby suddenly halted them.

"Hold up. Movement. Unidentified signature heading from the hangar, towards the elevator hub."

"Elevator hub, report," John demanded over the comms. When the buzz of the other end kicked in, John could hear chatter in the background – more radios.

"All clear here, Raindance. We're currently directing a few stragglers here – they're out in the starboard corridors, taking the maintenance route."

"Shit, shit. Keep that place locked up tight, we're on our way. Bridge, Raindance is currently headed for the elevator hub, Rob, start sealing bulkheads, hatches, whatever you can, slow that thing down." The four marines began sprinting down the tight corridors, their feet pounding on the metal grating of floor. Undoubtedly, they would have no element of surprise to aid them, but it was better than arriving on scene too late.

"Sealing Bulkhead G-Seven, sealing Bulkhead – sealing Bulk – sealing – sealing – sealing Hatch H-Fourtee – sealing," Angel droned, getting interrupted as Robby frantically tapped away at the screen.

"It's so fucking fast!" he complained.

"Keep at it," John encouraged him as the rounded another corner. His motion tracker began pulsing on his HUD – 149 metres.

"Elevator hub, tell those two marines to stay put!" Pauline barked as she yanked the screen out of Rob's hands.

"Sealing Subsection I-Twelve-Twenty-Four. Sealing Subsectio – sealing Sub – sealing –"

"For Christ's sake, turn off the text-to-speech, would you?" Garry snapped over Angel's monotone.

"Oh, I'm sorry, should I just tell the Alien to wait a moment while I fuck around with the settings?" Pauline shot back.

"Sealing Subsection I-Sixty-Seventy-Two." The group slowed to a halt, huffing in exertion as the thick, steel plate of metal clanged shut behind them like the death toll of a church bell. Pauline took a break from resting her hands on her knees to offer the PDA to John. The Corporal accepted it and glanced over her handiwork. Two blue dots were boxed in a tiny one-unit-wide section of the grid with a mess of sealed bulkheads around them. Outside of that, there was an enormous box made of smaller boxes with both themselves, the alien, and the sealed-in marines inside it.

"Great work," John panted. "But we're on a clock now. With all the air vents locked down, they'll have half an hour of air, maybe an hour if they're not panicking, which is doubtful."

"So we seal off everything but the corridors between us and the Alien and we kick its ass," Pauline concluded.

"Rob?" John prompted as he handed the PDA back.

"On it, Sir." They tucked their weapons into ready positions and began shuffling along the corridor cautiously. Despite having the Xeno's location, they knew how fast the aliens could be, especially in tight quarters such as ship corridors, so being ready for a sudden rush was a necessity.

"Top or bottom, Rob?" John asked as they slid one sector closer to their target. The doors grated shut behind them, making their arena one intersection smaller.

"You know I ain't no dead fish in bed, Sir," Robby quipped quickly, before doing his job. "Last it was on the sensors… top. I've been trying to seal off as many maintenance hatches as I can to keep it out of the tunnels, but if I seal off too many it may get stuck down there, which would mean we would have to go in after it." John grimaced, only able to imagine how shitty it would be to confront a Xenomorph in the cramped, damp and dangerously pipe-and-wire-lined crawlspaces reserved for the maintenance crew. Having to bend down with your back brushing against the roof wasn't exactly the best form for fighting in. "Hold up – here." John glanced back to look at the display being presented to him. "It's cornered. After we round this corner, it's probably gonna charge us." The screen showed a single L-shaped section of corridors, with them in the small hook and a flurry of movement hanging back at the end of the long straight.

"What's that?" John demanded, jabbing a finger at a small, pale yellow square which had a red 'ERROR' message flashing over it.

"I tried closing off maintenance, but that hatch won't close. It's got access to the tunnels, but only in this sector; it can only come in and out of the broken hatch."

"That'll have to do. Let's move up – Pauline, hand out a few extra flamers, would you?" Pauline nodded and tossed the bulky weapons around, receiving a Pulse Rifle from John in return. They then shed the extra supplies they had been carrying to the hangar, knowing full well the extra weight could mean death in such a reflex-sensitive encounter.

"Uh, hang on, what's the strategy here?" Garry implored, awkwardly slinging his Pulse Rifle with one arm while he held the flamethrower in the other.

"We don't have a lot of manpower, so we're pulling a Ripley Manoeuvre. Stay alert, watch our fronts and turn off your motion trackers. We don't need the distraction here."

"Aye," Pauline confirmed, flicking the switch on her helmet. The others quickly followed suit, then began shifting their gear, pressing their flamethrowers and Pulse Rifles side by side, using the shoulder strap from one weapon to secure it to the other.

They carefully rounded the corner, heavy bundles of weapons loose at their hips to let their shoulders take the burden. The corridor was empty, and John grimaced when he spotted a maintenance hatch, torn off its rails before it could slide closed.

"Fault detected," he muttered under his breath. "Okay, Garry, Rob, stay here, watch the corridor – oh, and hand me the PDA would you? Alright, breathers on people, Pauline, it's pesticide time." Pauline nodded as the four of them slid the small re-breathers out of their vest pockets. Once secured, Garry and Robby took up positions on either side of the corridor, well away from the maintenance hatch, while Pauline and John took up positions above the other two locked hatches in the corridor. "On my mark. Ready? Three, two, one, mark!"

John tapped the PDA, unlocking both hatches and tossing a gas grenade in the open hole while Pauline did the same. He quickly sealed them back up and the duo made their way back to their teammates' positions. Hissing filled the room, and yellow smoke began pouring out of the broken hatch, along with the pained cries of a Xenomorph. "Steady…" A silhouette could briefly be seen, a flash of movement amongst the billowing yellow clouds. John hit the device in his hand. Nothing. Worriedly, he glanced down and hit the on-screen button again. No response. "Angel!" he hissed. "Activate the air filters in our sector!"

"Negative," Angel chastised him, "your sector is currently under quarantine."

"Angel!"

"Sir…" Pauline growled, low and slightly shaky. "Are we clear to fire?" John shook his head, eying the smoke drifting lazily into the corridor from below.

"That's sulflamizine," John hissed back. "The shit explodes."

" _Why the fuck would you fill the room with explosive gas?_ " Pauline whisper-screamed, the strain in her voice evident as she hurriedly switched off her flamethrower's primer.

"Because the Xenomorphs go fucking berserk when it touches their skin. It's standard issue for flushing them out and blowing up Hives, how have you not been briefed on this?"

"How about we stop arguing, back up slowly, get into the next section, toss a frag in here, and hope for the best?" Garry suggested, already backpedalling.

"Angel, tell the Bridge crew to lift the quarantine," John commanded the AI.

"I am sorry Corporal, that would be against protocol. A Xenomorph infestation is still present in this section of the ship; lifting quarantine would endanger the lives of the rest of the crew."

"Fucking roof!" Rob cried, jerking his gun up at the ceiling. So caught up in their argument as they had been, the fireteam had failed to notice the midnight black creature slowly crawling across the ceiling towards them.

"Back up, back up – around the bend. You are cleared for fire around the bend."

The Xenomorph, however, seemed to understand their intention and quickly launched itself off the roof and onto the mesh of the corner, blocking their retreat. "Fuck this is a bad idea," John whispered to himself as he slipped another grenade from his belt. He tossed it at the floor before the Xenomorph could act on its advantage, showering the five of them in more billows of yellow smoke. Their vision was now completely clogged by gas, and all they could hope for was that their masks would hold up. John winced as he felt a tiny prick of discomfort crawling across his exposed skin – something about the gas reacting with moisture; he hadn't exactly been paying rapt attention during the run-down.

"Was there a plan here?" Pauline demanded as they backpedalled blindly, waving their guns about despite knowing full well they couldn't fire.

"I figured not getting slaughtered by the alien was a pretty obvious step one. The rest we can figure out."

"Touché."

 _Beep-beep._

"Fuck fuck shit fuck, that's five minutes until the trapped marines run out of air," Robby cussed.

"Go, go," John ordered him as he pressed his PDA to his chest. Using their HUD technology, they could still see the screen despite not being able to see the device, rendering it still usable. "I can handle the Xeno. Just unlock the bathroom in this corridor."

"Are you kidding me?" Pauline hissed. "There's a difference between a hero and a fucking moron, you stupid prick."

"Trust me, I figured out the rest of my plan, and it'll probably work better if I'm alone."

"If you die I will _piss_ on your grave."

"Noted."

John carefully picked his way back into the middle of the long straight, darting aside when a wayward tail threatened to slice open his shins as the pained Xeno flailed about. John opened the bathroom door – with help from his HUD – and the flailing immediately stopped. Good, the Xenomorph recognised the sound and saw it as a way out. He threw himself through the doorway, and not a moment later the burly black figure went sailing over his head, skidding to a halt in the fresh, clean air of the bathroom. The door swished shut behind them, the small clouds of yellow dispersing in the air not lost on John as he left his rifle on the floor.

He slowly pushed himself onto hands and knees, pausing at the threatening hiss which seemed to fill the air in the room. "Easy…" he muttered, pulling himself into a low crouch. The Xenomorph didn't allow him to go any further, pouncing on him and seizing his neck in a flash. Its grip unknowingly fell upon the reinforced collar of John's armour – incidentally this feature had been designed for this specific circumstance – and he found himself dangling half a metre off the ground. John lowered his head and butted the creature just as its tongue shot out and collided with his helmet. It was stunned for a moment and released him, allowing him to roll out of its way and slip a frag from his belt.

The Xenomorph reared up to attack, but hesitated when a soft _pling_ interrupted the heavy breathing of the room. "Dead man's switch," John warned. "Try that again and we both go up in flames." A low, guttural hiss, and the Xeno lowered itself to the floor, but otherwise didn't make a move. It understood. John used his free hand to reach under his armour to the pockets of the pants he wore beneath, fishing out his phone which he hadn't found the time to put back in his locker.

He used the ship's internet to make a quick search, then slid the device across the floor at the alien. It growled and stepped back, only to jerk in surprise when a loud moan split the air. It looked down, and sure enough, the screen was open to PornHub, where a human soldier was getting it missionary style from a Xenomorph. The alien tore its gaze away and glared at John. "Fuck if I know," he said, answering the unspoken question. "But I assume you have your theories, and I have mine. Obviously, we have the capacity to co-exist, and you can definitely understand what I'm saying, so if you're willing, I'd say that's a pretty good start."

The Xenomorph regarded him and parted its lips, baring its razor-sharp teeth at him. It was only after the alien picked up his phone that he figured out that was some kind of smile. The device was fiddled with and slid back to him, causing him to almost drop his grenade when he read the screen. A notepad had been opened. The creature's larger-than-convenient digits had made a mess, but the message was clear.

' _Tyhatsd kijnda hoty'_

"Great. Another fucking smartass in my life."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

" _So… you are the Queen of the rebel Hive I have heard so much about_ ," the calm and thoughtful voice of the Queen mused. Jeica chewed her lip idly as she regarded the enormous figure, mulling over the firm, motherly voice which greeted her mind. It was odd, meeting a Queen for the first time; their voice was demanding and authoritative, yet gentle and sweet. You couldn't possibly ignore a being so majestic and powerful, but at the same time you didn't really feel all too bothered because you didn't _want_ to block her presence out. Jeica shrugged it off, having seen too much in her life at this point to be taken aback by the strange sensation, instead choosing to extend a hand to the towering figure, playing it off coolly despite how awkward it was to offer a handshake to such a towering and tall creature.

"Lieutenant Jeica Smith. I don't believe we've had the pleasure." A massive grin split the alien's maw as it stooped down, one of the arms stuck to her chest like a T-Rex extending out to accept the gesture. They shook, both grips firm and unyielding in a silent competition to be the strongest and most fearless leader.

" _Asphid,_ " the Queen introduced herself simply. " _It's a kind of flower, I'm told._ "

"I'm familiar. Grows on planets with high soil acidity. Hmph, that's kinda clever actually." Jeica chuckled despite her best efforts to remain stony-faced and business-like. She gave up her façade entirely when she decided to lean against the wall casually and swipe her cap off her head, dusting it out idly. "So, to business then. I'm sure you are very concerned about sending your people to my colony, and have a few rules to set me before we get there?"

" _Well, if you're offering,_ " Asphid replied smoothly, also abandoning her false mask of grandeur and sinking down into a less intimidating posture. " _My number one concern is how you treat non-combat personnel on your colony, as I doubt many of the civilian branch workers under my protection will wish to fight. Do you even have non-combat personnel on your colony?_ " Jeica barked out a quick laugh at the question and patted her hip holster.

"Not too long ago I had to teach these guys how to draw a gun properly for self-defence. We have many people who don't fight – it's kinda crucial to maintain a functioning colony."

"Is _there a proper way to draw a gun?_ " Asphid inquired curiously. " _I always thought it looked fairly straightforward._ "

"Not so," Jeica corrected her with a waggle of her finger. "It's got somewhat of a safety lock to stop it getting stolen by civilians. Here, you have to push forward, pull up, pull back, then slide out." Jeica demonstrated the actions with her own pistol slowly so the Xeno could follow. "If you try to just pull it straight out…" She jerked her gun straight up after she re-holstered it, resulting in it not budging an inch. She wiggled it and tugged it in every direction, but it would only slide out a couple of inches at the most.

" _Well that seems counter-productive. What if you need it in a hurry?_ "

"That's what training's for. Keep practicing the movement until you can do it cowboy-fast." Jeica showed this off as well, her hand gliding through the movements so fast it looked as though she had effortlessly tugged it straight out. She even struck a gunslinger pose, free hand pretending to fan the hammer at her alien ally. "Point being," she said, getting back on track and slipping her gun back into its holster, "most people on my colony barely know how to draw a gun, let alone fire the damn thing properly. If your civilians don't want to take up arms, they can work at the local bakery or something. They do great muffins."

" _And how are the Xenomorph accommodations?_ " Asphid queried.

"It depends on the Xeno. You can either live in an apartment, live with your Bonded, or find a nice cosy spot in our local Hive – though I doubt you'll be anywhere but the latter."

" _You have a Hive? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, it just seems a little odd to have a Hive but no Queen._ "

"Your arrival was highly anticipated," Jeica quipped, only really half-joking. She dearly hoped this Queen was the solution to their every problem they had been hoping for. "Oh, and I hope you're familiar with the concept of money – some of our Xenos weren't." Asphid nodded the affirmative, and Jeica felt a small amount of relief; that would make integrating them a lot easier. "Good, because we give Xenos jobs too. No freeloading." Asphid cocked her head curiously, which Jeica noted somehow still looked cute despite the gesture belonging to a biomechanical creature the size of a small building.

" _What kind of jobs do your Xenomorphs do?_ " Jeica rolled her shoulders in answer, trying to call up a few examples of where she'd seen the aliens working.

"Hunting and construction mostly, though I've seen a fair amount around other places, like cafes, stores, even as a club bouncer, funnily enough. Oh, and there's this really cute little one who works in the administration block doing paperwork and stuff. He seems to enjoy the quiet. Not so good at writing, but excellent memory, can recall a month's worth of shipments off the top of his head, down to the exact shelf number."

"Lieutenant? We need you in the hangar, ma'am," a voice buzzed over the radio. Jeica sighed irritably and slid the device off her vest. Every damn time she tried to hold a conversation longer than five minutes…

"Understood, I'll be there in five." She smiled apologetically at the Queen before her, but received only an affirming nod from the gargantuan lady. "No rest for the wicked and all that. I'll check in again to settle you into the Hive once we're planetside," she promised.

" _I look forward to it_."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **Weyland-Yutani Refuelling Station Zestaz-3  
2108 hours**

John glanced up from his PDA as the door swished open suddenly, bathing the comparatively-dark room with the much brighter light of the corridor beyond. The alien figure beside him shifted uncomfortably, placing a hand over his own with the intent to gently pry their only means of communication from his grip.

The door slid closed again, giving privacy to the duo and the third man who had just entered.

"They're insane; they're all insane. It's not even restrained," the balding, glasses-wearing, middle-aged newcomer muttered as if the other occupants of the room were deaf. He sighed, shuffled a cluster of papers, before setting them down and making eye contact with John. "Your report says you placated the creature?"

"I talked to him. Asked him not to kill anyone," John corrected the businessman with a frown.

"And you trusted the word of a…" he sighed again, as if every second spent in this room was a constant strain on his existence. He pushed his glasses up on the way to rubbing his eyes wearily with a thumb and forefinger, likely suppressing a groan of internal pain and frustration. "Let's start this from the beginning. You had an opportunity to kill the Xenomorph as was your mission, but instead chose to enter the room, defenceless, and try to talk to it, your reasoning behind this being a porn video you had been shown this morning?"

"That's… correct," John admitted.

"And after you contacted an official to stand down your AI and lift the quarantine, you neglected to restrain or partake in any form of control of this animal –" The Xenomorph growled, deep and guttural, at the name-calling, giving the man pause for a second. " _Dangerous creature_ ," he corrected himself with visible strain. "And let it have free roam of an entire ship?"

"…Yes…"

"You're an idiot." There was a brief flurry of movement, accentuated with the scraping of furniture and the shuffle of bodies springing into action as the Xenomorph leapt, bored of this incessant man's patronisation. However, he was stopped short by John's outstretched hand in his face, signalling him to hold back. The middle-aged man had at some point fallen back in his chair in fright, and was now seated with his rump on the cold, hard floor, looking shaken.

"With all due respect, you didn't come here just to be disdained at my life choices, and we haven't waited in this stuffy room for half an hour for that either, so why don't we move on to those important-looking documents, yeah?"

The businessman sighed once more, adjusted his glasses, and slowly got back into his chair, rearranging his papers for another painstaking few moments before finally speaking once more.

"Tell me, Corporal Richards, have you ever heard of Project Advena?"

 **A/N: Have no fear, Corporal John Richards is not another character you have to worry about keeping tabs on; he exists merely to update you, dear readers, on the Weyland-Yutani's advancements in the Xenomorph-befriending division. Unfortunately that also means I won't be able to write Private Pauline Eswerth anymore, which is sad because I enjoyed the brief time spent with her. Ah well, c'est la vie. More focus on the main cast next chapter.**


	9. A Day on the Waves

**A/N: Sorry this one's so late, life stuff and all that. I'll try harder, I promise.**

"You know, I didn't expect _you_ to join us," Jake mused as he idly turned a fishing rod over in his hands. He could feel the curiosity of his partner peaking as she nosed around all the live bait and read through pamphlets of the native fish life. Jeica raised an eyebrow at him and folded her arms.

"Are you kidding me? It's been way too long since I've gotten the chance to relax planetside," she scolded him. "As much as this colony hates to admit it, I do have a life outside of my job."

" _Will Mozart be joining us?_ " Advena asked them distractedly, still tapping the glass tank of squirming worms in fascination.

"Nah. He and I have been… re-evaluating… things." She shifted uncomfortably, which caught Jake off-guard. The last time he'd seen Jeica anything but cool and level-headed was when Glover tried to rape her back on Reveles.

"Would it be too untactful to ask what you mean by that?"

"A couple of days ago, after I got the Queen settled, he brought up the possibility of breaking off our Bond."

"Shit," Jake murmured. That was pretty heavy. "Didn't even think that was possible."

" _Queens are able to break the Bonds of her subjects, provided both parties are certain that this is what they want,_ " Advena explained, her curiosity momentarily suppressed by her concern and sympathy. She quickly changed her tune in an attempt to be more comforting, however. " _But seeing as you've already grown your telepathy node, Asphid should be able to Bond you to any other Xeno you want without the need for you to be impregnated._ "

"I dunno, it just bums me out, y'know? Like, you guys and Tyler all have these amazing Bonds with your partners and mine just kinda awkwardly tells me he doesn't want me. Said we're not really compatible or something."

" _Well, he_ is _a pacifist,_ " Advena pointed out hesitantly. This was one of those situations where you could just as easily calm someone down as upset them even more. " _And you are not only the leader of a sizeable military, but a very skilled fighter. If it's not too bold to say, he may be right in saying you should seek new partners – perhaps someone who will fight by your side will be better suited for you?_ "

"Yeah, maybe. Jake, what are we still doing here?"

"I wanted to teach 'Vena how to fish human-style."

" _Despite the fact that fishing Xenomorph-style is far more efficient._ "

"Human fishing is way more relaxing," Jake argued, knowing full well that Xeno-style fishing involved diving into the water, speeding away after fish and spearing them with her tail.

" _You mean more boring,_ " Advena retorted, knowing full well that human-style fishing involved sitting at the water's edge, staring into the shifting waves and waiting idly for the fish to come to you and get themselves stuck on a hook.

"Ah, forget it then. If you don't wanna fish, and Jeica doesn't wanna fish, then nobody frickin' wants to fish."

" _Tyler might wanna fish,_ " Advena suggested hopefully. Partly to cheer him up, and partly to press her defiant stance on mending their relationship. Jake just scoffed at her good-naturedly.

"Tyler? Fish? Come on 'Vee, you and I both know that's never gonna happen. But if it _really_ means that much to you, I'll ask him if he wants to join us on the boat. If nothing else, at least Sal will be able to get out of the house and go for a swim; Tyler tends to keep him cooped up most of the time."

"I'll give him a ring then, shall I?" Jeica inquired, already slipping out her phone. Jake and Advena turned to her curiously as the phone rang a few times, before clicking and giving way to short-breathed huffing.

"Jeica Jeica Jeica!" Tyler cried energetically, causing her to reel back in surprise slightly. "You won't believe what I – oh my gosh, this is huge! Jeica, I – there was – when I – and then Sal – Jeica I've made a breakthrough! A huge, huge breakthrough!"

"Tyler, breathe. Calm down," Jeica soothed him once she'd regained her composure. "Now what the hell are you talking about?"

"I've been trying to figure out how telepathy works for ages now. I always figured it must be some form of radiation or radiation-like energy, and I guess I haven't technically solved that mystery, but the biggest part of discovering this kind of thing is making a receptor. And I made a receptor! I was at a loss until Sal mentioned that Hive resin amplifies telepathic abilities, which is why they coat their homes with it for the Queen and all that. And then I tried it, and I found a chemical shift in the substance every time telepathy is used in its range, likely some form of energy amplification. But – but that's not the most important part. The most important part is the patterns in the shifts are consistent with frequencies and amplitudes – waves! Telepathy utilises waves, Jeica. Do you have any idea what this means?"

Jeica blinked a couple of times, trying to soak that in, and cast a glance at her companions, who all shared her dumbfounded expression.

"Uh…" she tried, but was interrupted by the excitable young scientist.

"It means it can be manipulated, converted, read and predicted, replicated! It – it's huge! I – there's so much I can do! I – I need to get started right away! This is incredible!"

"Whoa… hold on there," Jeica pleaded. "You, uh, sure it can't wait a little? Advena, Jake and I were planning a day on the water, thought you and Sal might want to come along and enjoy Altin for a bit. Y'know, take a break from working or whatever it is you do in that ship of yours." That seemed to finally calm Tyler down, as she received a much more level-headed response from the man.

"Uh, nah, it's alright. You guys go right on ahead, enjoy yourselves."

"Aw, come on Tyler; you have plenty of time to work on your research. Enjoy yourself for a bit."

"It's not that. I just don't like boats."

"Why –"

"Let's just leave it at that, okay? Look, I've gotta go, so you guys have fun out there, alright?" Tyler told them encouragingly, though it sounded awkward coming from his mouth. Jeica tried to reply, but the line went dead. He'd hung up.

"Well, that was weird," Jake commented.

"Weirder than 'usual Tyler'?" Jeica quipped as she adjusted her backpack and made to leave. Jake placed the fishing rod he'd been examining back onto the rack and moved to follow her.

"I guess not. So, if we're not gonna fish, what _do_ you guys wanna do on a boat all day?"

"Eh, swim, sunbathe, read a book, have a few hours of goddamn peace in my life for once. Lunch would be nice too."

"We could've had a fresh fish barbeque," Jake grumbled quietly, eying the door moodily when they stepped outside the hunting and fishing store and into the quiet streets of Altin's colony.

" _Don't be such a baby. And if you_ really _wanted to, I could catch several fish much faster than you humans and your silly sticks can,_ " Advena scolded him.

"Let's not start that again," Jeica butted in before they could start arguing once more. "It would be really nice if you could call a truce, just for one day, for me." Jake chuckled, straightened his back, and saluted.

"Understood, ma'am."

"Oh stop that, jackass."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jake took a deep breath of the fresh, crisp, salt-tinged air and sighed in content. There was just something so relaxing about standing on the soft sand of a beach, staring out into the endless expanse of water as the sun reflected brightly off its shifting waves. Advena seemed to share his sentiment, sitting on her haunches with her body pressed against his side.

" _It's beautiful,_ " she decided. " _It's so strange to see so much water in one place. How far does it go on for?_ " Jake shrugged.

"Who knows? Every ocean's different. We won't be going too far out though; best to stay where you can see land, just in case."

" _Oh boo, you're always so sensible. I thought today was supposed to be a relaxing day._ "

"I meant it more in the sense that all of us are shit navigators and we didn't bring enough food to spend a week lost in the middle of the ocean."

" _Oh, right. No arguments there._ "

"Ah shit, we're in trouble," Jeica moaned, stepping up beside them. "I just got word Asphid's looking for me. Damn it, I was _this_ close to getting off the hook, can't exactly ignore her though." She sighed, her shoulders sagging while she stared down at the informal T-shirt and broad shorts she was wearing, already replacing them with her officer's uniform in her mind.

"That's bullshit; you told everyone you'd be unavailable – she can't do that!" Jake protested. A dockworker in a high-vis jacket tapped Jeica on the shoulder and informed her the Queen was here, before quickly jogging off to break up an argument between two fishermen. The trio quickly smoothed down their clothes – the two who were wearing clothes did, anyway – and tried to look presentable in their summery swimwear as a Xenomorph Drone who was definitely not the Queen sauntered up to them.

" _Greetings, Jeica Smith,_ " Asphid, Queen of the Xenomorphs, acknowledged each of them in turn. It took Jake a second to realise she was body-switched with one of her subjects again.

"Your Majesty," Jeica returned with lukewarm results. Asphid was analysing that, trying to decide whether she was being mocked or if Jeica was struggling to make sense of Xenomorph hierarchy like all humans did when they first met her. It seemed humans had an odd perception of royalty which required fancy titles, the strictest and most uptight behaviour, and a degree of timidness which one would exercise in the face of a superior. All things which Asphid hated, as Xenomorphs firmly believed nobody is objectively superior to another; everyone has strengths, and everyone has weaknesses.

" _It makes me uncomfortable when you call me that,_ " she stated bluntly. Jeica nodded awkwardly, feeling her dignity clashing with her current apparel. It didn't feel right to be discussing business formally while clad in anything but her uniform or her armour.

"Is there, uh, a problem, Miss Asphid?" she asked cautiously. The Queen ground her teeth at the persistence in using titles, but let it slide. There would be time to chastise the humans later.

" _Not at all, Jeica. I actually heard you were having a day off-duty, and wanted to request to accompany you. It would be beneficial to us if we got to know each other on a casual basis, and I am incredibly eager to have a swim for the first time in my life._ " Jeica glanced to Jake, seeing as it was his trip, and received an ambiguous gesture.

"Uh… I don't know how to say this politely ma'am," Jeica drawled carefully, slowly bringing her eyes back to the Xeno before her. "But uh, I think you might be a bit too big for the boat." The Drone glanced at itself, then back to the lieutenant.

" _I am smaller than this one,_ " she pointed out, motioning towards Advena.

"No, not the Drone, I mean _you_. The Queen you."

" _My body is already ovipositing in the Hive; moving it would be counter-productive. I have been leant this body from one of my most loyal subjects, Yipkar, and he has granted me permission to spend the day in it should you allow me to come with you._ "

"What the hell does ovipositing mean?" Jake whispered, unheard or ignored as Jeica began speaking again.

"Are you sure you won't be out of range? We're pretty far away from the Hive already…" The Drone tapped his head – er, her head.

" _Queens are able to use telepathy over much larger distances than any other Xenomorph. I'll be fine._ "

"Well, if you say so. Welcome aboard, Miss Asphid. Will your Bonded be joining us?"

" _Not today; he doesn't like water. He was raised on a moon base you see, so there was nowhere for him to learn how to swim. I would teach him, but Xenomorph muscle memory doesn't translate well to human. Of course, being the Queen, I could find a human in my Hive who can swim and carry their skills to Abe, but that can be difficult without taking memories along for the ride._ "

"Well, I'm learning something already," Jake jibed. "But seriously, we should probably get on the boat before someone tries to kidnap us and force us to do our adult responsibilities. Advena and I have finished packing."

And so they boarded their small yacht. It was quite a cosy little thing, with the controls taking residence in the open-roofed fly bridge, underneath which was a small, furnished, indoors area with a couple of couches, a coffee table, and a bench with inset cupboards for utility. The indoors section opened up to the decks via glass sliding doors, allowing access to the rail-enclosed area littered with deck chairs, a set of speakers, a grill and a chilly bin.

"Not bad," Jeica noted as she admired the vehicle. She flopped onto a couch, dropping her bag on the floor next to her and retrieving a book from within. "This is gonna be kick-ass." Jake chuckled at her definition of 'kick-ass' and scaled the steep set of half-ladder-half-stairs onto the fly bridge, Advena hot on his tail.

"A wee bit fancier than what I've seen in the past, but a steering wheel's a steering wheel," he mused. "If I can't find the brakes, I can always swerve us into the nearest beach."

" _You are just amazing at inspiring confidence, Jacob,_ " Advena chided him dryly, accompanied by her emotional equivalent of an eye roll. Jake laughed and, once satisfied they were far enough away, cut the engine, letting them drift to a halt amongst the gently-bouncing waves.

"What are we doing first, 'Vee? We can swim, lounge or take the opportunity to chat to our Queen."

" _Mmm… cuddling up in the sun sounds like a ball… but, I suppose I_ am _dying to find out more about our newest addition; I want to know what I'm getting into if I decide to join this Hive._ "

"We," Jake corrected her. "Don't think even for a second that I won't follow you down whatever path you choose. I'll Bond with this Queen if you will." Advena nudged her head into his chest as a form of gratitude, earning herself a loving hug and a gentle hand stroking her dome. She almost went back on her decision and hunkered down for some sun-bathing and cuddles, but Jake was much more resolute than she was. He gently pried his alien girlfriend off and slid down the ladder-stairs after a final, cherishing head-pat. Advena huffed and followed, hopping down to the deck below in one effortless bound, too lazy to use the stairs.

"Howdy lover-boy," Jeica greeted Jake, gracing him with a half-glance before returning to her book. She took up one half of the two couches, lying with her back against the leftmost armrest with her feet on the cushion. Queen Asphid's borrowed body sat idly on the opposite couch, fiddling her hands idly while keeping her gaze occupied by the sparkling ocean. The Xeno slowly turned after hearing Jeica's greeting, offering him an encouraging smile.

"Hey Jeica, Hello… Asphid." Jake felt awkward using such a modest and unassuming name for the effective deity which resided before him, but hesitance aside, she seemed visibly happy at being referred to as such.

" _Jacob, was it?_ " she asked politely.

"Yeah, most just call me Jake though, ma'am."

" _And that means you must be Advena. A pleasure to meet the both of you; I've heard much about your exploits._ "

"Yeah, we kicked the Wey-Yu's ass and freed a bunch of Xenos," Jake sighed, almost dreamily, while inspecting his nails in a sarcastic display of modesty. "No big deal. News travels fast though; you've only been here a day or so."

" _It does when you're a Xenomorph. Telepathy, remember?_ " Asphid reminded him, tapping a claw against her domed head to accentuate her point. " _That reminds me; none of you here have joined my Hive, so you may not be aware of a member of your team's… involvement, with our past imprisonments. Tyler, I believe? He was the one who spoke to me in the colony._ "

"Aaaand it's time for a swim," Jake interrupted, getting to his feet and stretching dramatically. "Because with all due respect, Queen Ashpid, this is our day off, and I refuse to talk about how much of an asshole Tyler is on my day off. Coming 'Vee?"

" _Oh man, finally! I've been waiting decades to go for a swim in the ocean! Are there those really colourful rainbow fish here, like on Ha-why-eye?_ "

"I think you mean Hawaii, darling. And we're about to find out." Jake finished stripping off his t-shirt and dived off the side of the boat, crashing into the lazy waves below. Advena was not far behind him, pouncing off the deck and sailing for a good second or two through the air, before sliding gracefully into the water with her streamlined body.

" _Are you going to be joining them?_ " Asphid inquired curiously. Jeica gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Not really in the mood for a swim today," she replied, retrieving her book. "Besides, salt water sucks. You go ahead and knock yourself out though; have a splash."

" _But Jeica, if I am unconscious, won't I drown?_ " Jeica lowered her book and stared at the Xenomorph with a furrowed brow, trying to glean anything from the expressionless face which stared her back. After a few moments of confused silence, Asphid cracked a grin and flicked her tail, rising to her feet. " _A joke, Lieutenant. Enjoy your book._ " And with that, she skittered over the side, slipping into the water seemingly without disturbing the surface tension whatsoever. Jeica harrumphed at the royal pain in her ass and flicked her book back up.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"Yo, lover-boy, you guys gonna eat?" Jeica demanded impatiently. Jake cracked an eye open, finding himself lying on one of the deck chairs with Advena's body pressed up tightly to his side, her head resting on his chest and her tail draped over his shins. It was adorable how hard she'd tried to squeeze herself onto the much-too-small piece of furniture in order to stay close to him. He chuckled and rubbed her dome, forcing his other eye open in an attempt to fully awaken himself. He didn't remember taking a nap; the last thing he remembered was taking a break in the pleasantly-warm sun after their swim, on this nice, comfy deck chair. Oh, right.

"Yeah, I could go for a couple of sizzlers," he answered lazily, knowing full well they'd only brought a miniature barbeque and some grillables.

" _Mmrf, what are sizzlers?_ " Advena inquired, yawning the sleep away.

"More importantly, did Jeica just say 'yo'?"

"Hey, you have no idea how hip and cool I am," Jeica scolded him, tossing a spatula into the air so it spun end-over-end a few times. She attempted to catch it, but it bounced off her fingers, forcing her to lunge forward and snatch it up before it could clatter to the floor. She immediately straightened back up, leaned against the wall and grinned slyly like nothing had happened.

"Slick," Jake commented. Jeica jabbed the cooking utensil in his direction in mock-anger.

"Don't forget I can still kill you in twenty different ways with this thing!"

"Yeah? Is one of them death by starvation because you ruined all the sizzlers?"

"I'll have you know I'm excellent at cooking sizzlers. I'm just not really good at the more extravagant stuff."

"Holy shit, somebody stop the press; Jeica is good at putting a sausage on a grill and not burning it, but can't cook when she actually has to do something."

"Yeah, how's this for a sausage?" Jeica raised a closed fist, then pulled the finger with as much flair as she could muster.

"And the trend of Jeica not burning things continues." Jeica chuckled and flipped her spatula again as she made to approach the grill.

"Okay, that was pretty clever actually." She caught the utensil by its handle, smirking victoriously when she did so.

"Thanks, I try." They fell silent for a few moments after that, the gentle swishing of the waves and the sizzling of Jeica's grillables the only sounds which permeated the still, calm air. It was a nice change of pace for the lieutenant, not having to organise thousands of people and conduct interviews to weed out Welyand-Yutani loyalists she didn't know what to do with.

"Something on you mind, ma'am?" she asked idly. "You've been awfully quiet."

" _I suppose you could say that,_ " Asphid admitted. " _I've just been trying to organise the un-Bonded Xenomorphs; they are very eager to… 'respawn' as they're calling it now. I've been trying to slow them down and get them to use their current bodies to get to know the humans here, pick out someone they know they'll get along with. I don't really want to have to break Bonds because people are rushing into unsatisfying relationships._ " Jake grimaced and quickly checked his phone. Not wanting to be left out of a convenient excuse to busy herself in a meaningless cop-out task, Advena quickly arranged herself to peer over his shoulder, finding his notification feed suddenly very interesting. Sensing their discomfort, Asphid stiffened. " _Oh. Oh, Jeica, I am sorry, I didn't mean –_ "

"It's fine." Awkward silence fell upon them while Jeica poked the grillables with a sullen expression, like a child poking at their food, unable to eat because of the churning feeling in their stomach. Asphid desperately looked to Jake and Advena for help, but the duo were very purposefully keeping their eyes glued to the phone.

" _If… if you would allow it, Jeica, I know each and every Xenomorph under my protection very well. I would be honoured to help you find a more appropriate partner._ "

"That's okay Asphid. I think I'll just let things unravel naturally. Thanks though. And for Christ's sake Jacob, grow some balls and get off your damn phone."

"Hey, what about her?" Jake demanded, pointing at his girlfriend.

"She can grow some balls too."

" _She's right; I literally can,_ " Advena added. " _I'd just have to explode out of your chest again to do it._ "

"Wait, Sal doesn't have balls," Jake protested.

" _They're internal, Jake. It makes them less prone to being ripped off by your enemies. Honestly, I'm amazed humankind has survived this long with their only way of reproduction dangling down there in the open._ "

"You scare me sometimes."

" _That's what keeps this relationship fun!_ "

"Really? I thought it was the constant and passionate sex."

" _I mean, that too, but there's just something about lying in the shadows and jumping at someone with your claws out and your teeth bared, making them scream like a prepubescent little boy, which is so hard to beat._ "

"One time, 'Vee, it was _one_ time."

" _Keep putting the steak in those annoyingly-hard-to-open little plastic containers and I'll make it twice._ "

"The containers keep it fresh for longer!"

" _You know full well I'll eat it all well before it will go off._ "

" _Are they usually like this?_ " Asphid inquired amusedly, tuning out of the little dispute.

"Oh yeah, all the time. I can never really tell when they're actually arguing or just taking the piss. It's usually only afterwards that you can tell; you know, when Jake complains about how his phone is stuck in a ball of resin like – and I quote – 'like the god-damn mosquito from that fucking dinosaur movie'." Asphid chuckled.

" _That seems like an abuse of her powers. Also I feel like that would damage the phone._ "

"Nah, we've got military models. Water-proof, shock-resistant, radiation shielded – the whole kit and caboodle. Advena cling-wraps it first anyway, because she's sweet like that."

" _Making sure your cruel and unusual punishments are only temporary is sweet?_ "

"I was being just a little bit sarcastic." Asphid harrumphed at her and turned her gaze to the bickering couple thoughtfully. Jeica flipped her grillables, then leaned against the wall, following the Xeno's gaze. "It's all in good fun though; they really do care about each other. I've had a few boyfriends in my day, but I've never even _seen_ anything like those two. Maybe because no humans can link their conscious and unconscious minds together for every waking and sleeping moment of their life, but eh. They're good for each other, by which I mean they're just as bad as one another. It's like, Jake's a pain in one of my ass cheeks, and Advena is a pain in the other, so collectively, they're one big pain in my ass, you know what I'm saying?"

" _Jeica, I can honestly say I haven't the slightest clue._ " The lieutenant burst out laughing and returned her attention to the food, her outburst catching the attention of the two lovers, who finally put their little bicker session on hold.

"So what's it like being a Queen, anyway?" Jeica inquired, much to the confused duo's chagrin. Their demands to know what was so funny fell on deaf ears. "Specifically, I've always wondered about the… bigger Xenomorphs. Because I've been told by multiple sources that Xenos choose their Hosts with the intent to romance them, but if you know you're gonna be that massive and your partner's going to be so tiny, does it really matter?"

" _I assume you are referring to sex when you ask this question, as size difference tends not to get in the way of having feelings for another. It is not as complicated as it seems, though humans have an irritatingly-persistent and narrow-minded view on monogamy. Normally, a Queen would just borrow another's body in order to couple, but humans seem to be very against the idea of sharing in this manner, so quite simply, coupling is done in the Queen's original body. As you can imagine, the size difference_ does _affect the amount of pleasure one such as I can receive from one as small as you, but that is irrelevant with the Bond, as a Queen may simply tune in to their partner's pleasure and feel it as their own. When I first explained this, the humans of my Hive found it hilarious and aptly summed it up as this: you can cum by thinking about it really hard. Crude, and slightly inaccurate, but it gets the point across. Of course there_ are _other ways in which a little one can pleasure a big one, but when I described them to Abe he neglected to say more than 'freaky' on the matter, so I didn't press it._ "

"That's disturbing, yet inexplicably enlightening."

" _Oh you prudish humans and your narrow views of sex. What is so taboo about physical interactions between two consenting adults? Nobody should have to be ashamed of what makes them feel good._ "

"It's less about that, and more about what _I'm_ comfortable with. Like, one of my past boyfriends eventually worked up the courage to tell me his kink: he liked a thing called ballbusting. He got off to being hit in the sensitive parts of his sexual organs, _painfully_. I always felt bad doing it, 'cause, y'know, that's my boyfriend, I like him, I don't want to hurt him like that. I don't judge him for liking it or anything, I just didn't want a part in it, because it kills the mood for me when I'm all guilty and cringing at the pained expression on his face."

"Aw, Jeica is a softie after all," Jake cooed from the sidelines.

"Hey, _you_ ain't my boyfriend, so disrespect me again and I'll gladly plant my foot in _your_ crotch." Jake laughed it off, but quietly crossed his legs, as if to guard the fragile area between.

" _I suppose I can understand where you're coming from,_ " Asphid admitted, ignoring the interruption. After a brief pause to consider the appropriateness of the question, she continued. " _I wonder then, what are your views on interspecies relationships? And homosexual relationships?_ "

"I'm gonna be honest here; both kinda gross me out, but as long as it's out of my sight, I'm cool. I will gladly punch the teeth out of anyone who wants to act violently on their opinions though."

" _Do I really gross you out, Jeica?_ " Advena asked timidly, surprisingly enough she sounded a little hurt.

"Of course not 'Vee, just the thought of you and Jake fucking does."

" _So_ ," the Queen grunted amusedly, seizing an opportunity to sate her curiosity. She'd wanted to ask about the interspecies couple before, as her Hive had yet to form any, but they had been preoccupied with their argument. " _You two are_ _in a romantic relationship. That's quite curious; not many humans are willing to take that extra step._ "

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty great…" Jake sighed. Advena punched his shoulder lightly, so he elbowed her back as subtly as possible. Advena slapped his butt with her tail, so he elbowed her again. Then, Advena burst into movement, shoving him hard enough to knock him overboard. _Splash_. She grinned victoriously.

"God damn it 'Vee I'm gonna blue-ball you for a week!" Jake yelled from below.

" _He won't be able to resist me for a week,_ " Advena stated smugly.

"Two weeks!" Her face fell.

" _Oh shit, he might actually be serious. I'm gonna go help him out now._ " She quickly scampered over to the railing, leaving Jeica alone with the Queen once more.

"She really doesn't make it easy on me either," Jeica sighed. "Girl's got a sex drive like a Yiffal. She singlehandedly put 'that's what she said' jokes out of style."

" _Did Jacob just say he was going to blue-ball a female?_ " Asphid asked incredulously. " _Either I'm misunderstanding human colloquialism, or that didn't make any sense._ " They waited a few moments in silence. " _They're not coming back up for a while, are they?_ "

"Advena's probably trying to sweet-talk him. They'll probably come up when the food's ready though…" Asphid grimaced, and Jeica did too a second later.

" _Jeica, how long are you supposed to –_ "

"Not this long," Jeica cut her off dejectedly. She grimaced again as she shut off the barbeque and scraped off the charred remains of the grillables. "I'm never gonna hear the end of this one."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

About an hour later, Jake was sitting opposite Jeica and Asphid with a fresh change of clothes on and an apologetic Advena doing her best to subtly cosy up to him. They were seated in the window booth of their favourite café, bathing in the last of the evening sun which filtered in from the quiet streets beyond. With their food burned, they decided to head back and grab something to eat at a nice, calm food joint. Coming here meant, of course, they were only presented with scones, pies and generic sandwiches to choose from, but that somehow only made it better for Asphid, who was enjoying the normalcy of it all.

The Queen watched as Advena took a small bite from her scone with her inner maw, taking extra notice of how none at the table batted an eye.

" _It is… unusual seeing humans so at ease around my kind,_ " she admitted. " _You two do not seem fearful or disgusted by any of our traits._ "

"Well considering –" Jake started, then paused as he remembered the last time he'd been in this café, and the conversation he'd had with Advena. The small joint was empty of customers, but that didn't mean the staff couldn't overhear what was being discussed. "Considering how _close_ Advena and I are now, it's hard to see her the same way I did when we first met."

"I worked as a lieutenant under the USCM for years, which means associating with the worst kinds of Wey-Yu scum; I've gotten good at my poker face. Besides, you guys aren't so bad once you stop murdering innocent people by the dozens." Jake cringed and Advena quickly turned her gaze to the floor, while Asphid refused to break eye contact or show expression. "Too soon?"

"At what point does that become an okay joke to make?" Jake demanded. The group was saved from another period of awkward silence by Advena sliding off her booth seat and onto all fours, stretching out leisurely like a cat.

" _Anyyyway, I'm gonna see if Tyler's still up for movie night tonight. It was a pleasure meeting you, Asphid. Coming Jake?_ " Jake nodded and joined her in finding his feet.

"Seeya tomorrow Jeica, Asphid." The two leaders nodded their farewells and watched the duo leave.

" _They seem tense,_ " Asphid noted.

"Yeah, Advena has a bit of a sore spot when it comes to our history. It probably wasn't very tactful of me to bring it up. Not to mention Jacob lost his parents to a Xeno attack. So, you know, there's a bit of tension there; an area they like to avoid for the sake of their relationship. It's kind of cute how even when they're angry, they refuse to use that against one another."

" _And what about you? You seem to have no qualms with bringing up the rougher parts of our histories. Do you not hold animosity for what has been done?_ "

"Nah, not really. Xenos were just doing what was right by them, and humans were doing the same. Nobody could have known that peace was possible between us. Besides, if anyone's to blame it's the Wey-Yu for spreading you guys so much. As harsh as it sounds, if they had opted to destroy your kind, they could easily have done so and spared millions of human lives." Asphid remained silent, staring out the window into the darkened, near-empty streets thoughtfully. Jeica definitely held a grudge but, true to her word, not against the Xenomorphs; that much the Queen could tell from her tone. "But if I'm honest with you," Jeica continued, surprising Asphid a little, causing her to jump and return her attention to the human. "I'm kinda glad things worked out the way they did. Those people didn't die in vain – in a way, they sacrificed themselves for _you_ , to give _your_ kind a chance at survival. Kind of ironic, really."

" _I suppose you're right,_ " Asphid agreed. After all, the humans could have, as the lieutenant said, wiped them out long ago, but didn't. The humans gave the Xenomorphs Hosts to reproduce with (granted, without the consent of said Hosts) and the means to spread across the galaxy, or a small part of it anyway. And now, the humans were providing food, home and company, as well as a place in their society, the latter two being incredibly important. As a symbiotic organism, Xenomorphs lacked culture of their own and relied heavily on their Host species for luxury, entertainment, breeding, technology, science, companionship and advancement. To have the humans' cooperation truly was the greatest gift which could be offered. She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard a wet sniff.

"Heh," Jeica chuckled, wiping her nose with her wrist. She was thankful that the café was empty bar them and the staff now, as this wasn't a condition she wanted people to see her in. Somehow, it felt alright when it was just her and the Queen. Asphid stared at her with concern, sitting upright and inadvertently removing some of the distance between them. "Can't help but think about all those people… all those men and women I've seen… I've commanded, even…" She leant her elbows on the table and buried her face in her palms, rubbing her eyes with her fingertips to get rid of the tears before they could form. "Ah fuck. I just can't believe… I've seen people kill themselves with grenades, only able to hope they'll take one of you down with them. I've seen people trying to fight off hoards of aliens alone just to give their friends a chance. I've seen pilots kamikaze their planes into colonies to wipe out Hives, I've seen people order nuclear strikes on themselves, I've seen people carve out their own fucking chests with combat knives to kill the embryo inside them. Isn't it funny, Ashpid? They tried so fucking hard to kill you guys, and in the end, those sacrifices led us here, to peaceful coexistence. Isn't that funny?"

" _No, not really._ "

"No, not really," Jeica conceded dejectedly. "So many fucking good people… fucking Wey-Yu fucked them all. All those pricks needed to do was fucking talk to you. Fuck." Asphid, for her part, didn't bother doing a double-take. It didn't matter to her how they had suddenly spiralled down to this, what mattered was that someone was on the verge of a mental breakdown right in front of her. So she shuffled closer, nudged Jeica's arm out of the way and pulled her close to her chest, wrapping her large arms around the human's back. Jeica sighed and rested her head against the Queen's chest, finding herself oddly appreciative of the affectionate hug, but uncomfortable with the notion of returning it. Asphid didn't mind, and simply hummed gently while she considered what to say next. Jeica was a grown woman; she didn't need to hear she was under a lot of stress, and that piling up more work to distract herself from her own problems didn't solve anything; undoubtedly, the human knew this already, and telling her would come off as patronising. Instead, Asphid settled for:

" _Let's get you home_."

"Yeah. That's a good idea."


	10. Bonding Bridges

Jake gave an impressed smirk as he stood, hands on his hips, in the midst of a rather vast building which consisted mostly of a single, high-ceiling, open room. It was neatly arranged with gym equipment grouped together by what type of workout it provided, as well as a few padded areas for sparring or exercises that didn't require equipment, like the push-ups a group of marines were pumping out. Off to the side were the showers, toilets and changing rooms, the only closed-off sections of the place, and light filtered in through high windows which didn't allow creeps to peer in and stare at the half-naked guys and gals getting sweaty.

"Advena, stop being a dick," he scolded his partner when his roaming eyes spotted her. She was laying on her side on a bench next to a marine who was hefting dumbbells, droplets of sweat clinging to his brow as he grunted with effort. Meanwhile, Jake's girlfriend was holding two of the very same dumbbells in a single hand and pumping them up and down effortlessly with her Cheshire grin fixed to her face. In all honesty, however, Jake had to stifle a laugh at how panicked the marine looked every time he glanced to his side. It seemed Advena was quite off-putting for the man.

The Xenomorph finally relented, placing the weights back on their rack and trotting over to her partner.

" _The one on Reveles was better,_ " she observed.

"This place is pretty damn good considering the resources we have at our disposable, and nothing short of a miracle with how over-worked our construction guys are."

" _Yeah, but there's no rope course._ "

"That thing was a glorified jungle gym."

" _I liked it. It was fun. There's nowhere to parkour here._ "

"Except for, you know, the big-ass forest over that-a-way."

" _You know, that's actually a brilliant idea!_ " Advena exclaimed, her perked posture reflecting her sudden burst of child-like excitement. " _We should build little platforms and bridges and zip lines and stuff in the trees, make a little obstacle course. It would be a massive hit with the Xenos. Ooh! We should get in quick and make it ourselves; charge five bucks an entry and we'll be rich!_ " Jake laughed at her and stroked her head while they walked to the door together, having already done their morning exercise routine.

"Hey, would ya look at that," Jake said amusedly, nodding his head towards where Jeica and Tyler were chatting next to the front entrance. Tyler smiled appreciatively at her, then made off into the gym. He was too out of the way to catch on their way, so the duo continued on to meet up with Jeica. "He seemed to be in a good mood," Jake noted once close enough to be heard. Jeica laughed at him.

"That wasn't Tyler; it was Sal. Tyler's outside on the shooting range," Jeica informed him. "I was actually just about to see what he was up to, if you wanna come with. He seemed quite worked up yesterday."

"Yeah, if Tyler sounds happy, there's probably something serious going on here," Jake jibed. Jeica rolled her eyes at him and sauntered outside, Jake and Advena following along dutifully behind her. Once outside, the new building's soundproofing lost its effect, and gunshots could be heard ringing out across the flat area sporadically. As they got closer to their destination, Jake flinched suddenly as a porcelain plate went spinning high above his head, only to explode into a thousand pieces with a resounding _boom_. "What the hell?"

Sal – or rather, Sal's body – hurled another plate at ludicrous velocity, his movements jerky and unpredictable, likely in an attempt to keep the Xeno next to him on their toes. The unfamiliar Xeno didn't falter, however, and pivoted gracefully to level their sniper rifle, firing a single shot which had the plate exploding into tiny shards, much like its predecessor.

"I have a lot of questions," Jeica announced as the three of them drew to a halt nearby. Tyler, currently inhabiting his boyfriend's body, turned to them and lowered the plate he was getting ready to throw. His company slid a pair of chunky goggles which looked like some kind of prototype VR headset off their head and made safe their sniper, flicking on its safety and adjusting their grip so it was no longer on the trigger. "Number one being: are you seriously making your boyfriend exercise _your_ body while you're out here having fun blowing stuff up?"

" _Hey, this isn't for fun_ ," Tyler protested, " _it's science. And to answer your question: yes, he does exercise my body for me. He was the one who insisted that I should work out, so he can be the one to put the effort in._ "

"Dude, that is _so_ lame," Jeica told him, her tone a mixture of confusion, mirth and bewilderment. "What the hell kind of 'science' are you doing here anyway? Looks like the kinda shit my hick of an uncle gets up to when he's had one too many beers with his friends."

" _Eagle here asked me to customise a sniper for her; she couldn't use the sights on standard ones, and I decided to make the weapon as a whole more balanced for Xeno use – you know, bigger, more space in the trigger guard, heavier stock, longer barrel, higher calibre – the works. Oh, and a completely custom-built sight. We're testing out the wireless scope,_ " Tyler explained. He motioned towards the goggles, which were obviously the method of viewing through the scope without trying to jam your bulky, elongated head against your weapon.

"Her name is Eagle?" Jake demanded, then quickly realised how rude that sounded and instead addressed the Xeno in question. "I'm sorry, your name is Eagle?"

" _I'm Un-Bonded, so the only name I have is my Hive name._ " Jake looked to Jeica, who had the same curious expression as he did, so he instead turned to Advena.

" _Christ, you don't know about Hive names?_ " Tyler scolded them. " _What, you thought that the Xenos just called each other 'Runner Number Two' until they find a human to name them?_ " Jake huffed at the scientist's attitude, and let him know how much of an ass he was being via an annoyed glare. " _Due to Xenomorphs not having a native language, they use names from that of their Host species'. Normally, a Xeno would be named once they hatch from a Host's chest, but because in this day and age their Hosts are a bit too dead to name things, Queens have started taking it upon themselves to name their subjects until they can get a name from a human. These Hive names are usually a noun or adjective which describes their personality, traits or feats. For example, Sal was raised by someone named 'Coward' – I'm sure you can imagine why he was called that. Eagle is named Eagle because she is an excellent hunter, and has the eye of an eagle. Brilliant sniper material._ " Eagle beamed brightly at the praise, her chest swelling a few centimetres as her body unconsciously shifted into a showy pose while the humans' eyes were still on her.

"Wait, so what's your Hive name?" Jake asked of his girlfriend. Advena shuffled her feet embarrassedly, keeping her gaze on the dirt below her.

" _Oh, uh… it's not really important._ "

"Aw come on, it can't be that bad."

" _I'm not going to say it in front of all these people!_ "

"Then just telepathic-whisper it to me. I'll stop blue-balling you," Jake sing-songed. Advena grimaced, knowing she couldn't refuse that offer. She was already getting sick of her punishment which came of pushing her partner off a boat, so that bribe sounded rather enticing.

" _Fine… it's Nutshell. Happy?_ " Jake bit his lip. It was a hopeless endeavour, trying to hold his laughter in, seeing as she could feel the mirth bubbling inside his mind, but he tried anyway.

"Aww 'Vee… hey… it's alright. It's gone now; you have a cool name now." Advena huffed ashamedly.

" _It feels wrong to hate it, seeing as it's the one thing I have left of my mother, but I do. I hate that name._ " Jake crouched down to her level and quickly hugged her.

" _Hey, if she were still around, she would just be happy that the name was only temporary, and so should you. Imagine how proud she would be to find out you were the first Xenomorph to ever receive a name from a human they're Bonded to,_ " Jake reassured her, deciding to use telepathy to tell her privately, due to their audience.

" _Handcuffs,_ " Advena growled.

"What?" Jake said dumbly, aloud due to being caught off-guard.

" _I demand you let me handcuff you to the bed tonight, for making this ordeal happen._ "

"Christ you're just… I mean, done deal and all but… Jesus 'Vee, do you ever – never mind." Advena grinned her devilish grin of hers, seeing her partner getting all flustered was enough to shake off her darker thoughts and return to the present. The happy, wonderful present, trapped between the death and misery of the past and the grim and uncertain future.

" _Well, that was entertaining to watch,_ " Tyler commented dryly, seeing the duo were finally done with their silent exchange. " _But if all of you are done, Eagle and I have some work to get back to._ "

"Actually, do you mind if I stick around, maybe watch a bit?" Jeica requested. "I've actually been sniper-trained, and I'm curious as to how good Eagle is. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to give her a few pointers." Tyler shrugged his big, awkward, Xeno shoulders.

" _Sure, just try not to have your head taken off. Eagle won't hit you, but Sal's body can turn even the bluntest of circular objects into saw blades if I throw them hard enough._ " Eagle slid the goggles back over her face and readied her gun once more, prompting Tyler to wind back and toss the plate at an incredible speed. It curved slightly in the wind, giving it an arc-shaped path which would throw off a lot of untrained individuals, but Eagle managed to land a single, accurate round in it. Jeica whistled approvingly.

"Not bad."

" _Best part is, she didn't even let me pimp out her scope with range-finders and vector-predictions. All her goggles do is show her a real-time feed from her scope. From this,_ " Tyler explained as he pointed out a small cap which could screw onto the back of most standard scopes. " _Of course I'll need to modify it to have wire transmission if she's ever going to use it on the field; wireless connections introduce unnecessary amounts of lag which could make or break a shot at longer ranges._ "

"A couple of milliseconds is all it takes," Jeica agreed.

" _Actually, come to think of it Jeica, I've done just about all I can for now, so why don't you take over here? You can teach her properly and I can get Jake to help me out with my latest experiment,_ " Tyler suggested.

"My help?" Jake echoed.

" _As a test subject, of course. It's an amateur's folly to assume something that works on yourself will work on others too, so I need some more human test subjects to try out. Should be safe enough._ "

"Oh boy, _that's_ reassuring." Advena elbowed her boyfriend good-naturedly.

" _He'd love to help, Tyler,_ " she said in his place.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do here," Jeica agreed. "You kids have fun, and try not to blow anything up. Unless you get it on camera and it looks sick, in which case, send those files over to me."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"So, a bit of background before we get started," Tyler announced, back in his old body, once they'd reached the grounded shuttle which he called a home. "After my initial discovery of telepathic waves and my further discovery of how to read them, I've found that converting between artificial waves and telepathic waves is relatively simple. Here, I have an example application of this discovery." Tyler gestured to a box with a camcorder atop it, wires sticking out of its side and travelling into the box, which was a mess of glass, resin, lights and wiring within. It looked of dubious quality, being held together in some places by alligator clamps, paperclips and even rubber bands, which set Jake on edge a little.

"That looks… dangerous," Jake commented dryly.

"On the contrary; it's a camera," Tyler explained.

"Then why the…?" he asked, gesturing to the object in question.

"The mess?"

"Yeah, I was gonna say – yeah, let's go with 'mess'."

"Well, this camera happens to have telepathic capabilities, as it is wired to an experimental aerial node which can send, receive and convert telepathic waves. But before we go any further into that, I'll get into the reason you're here. See, I have a working theory about these 'mental barriers' we all have – you know, the ones which stop you from being able to body-swap with Jeica or any other rando off the street. Quite simply, telepathy seems to work similarly to a computer – which is probably why conversion is so easy, but I digress. In theory, every brain, in all its uniqueness, produces a unique encryption key. Any Bond abilities or private information sent to an individual is encrypted with this key, thus only those who possess it may unencrypt it and use the information."

"But then how did Advena get my key?"

"Ah!" Tyler exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he pointed at the dumbfounded sergeant. Something told Jake the scientist had been expecting that question. "Isn't it obvious? She was _inside_ you. She had a physical connection to you. I'm no biologist, so I can't tell you the specifics, but if I had to guess, the Xenos grow pretty close to the spinal cord; they could probably forge a path to your brain from there and grab your encryption key that way. And before you ask, the Queen, according to my scans, has an auxiliary telepathy node which is unencrypted; it functions in a similar way to this camera – it has no key, and therefore can Bond with anyone who chooses to Bond with it. So basically, this node grabs the encryption keys from those who offer them, gives them to the Queen and enables her to interact with her subjects as a Bonded would. _And,_ because she has these keys, she can give them to other people or take them away, which is how she can break and form Bonds within her Hive."

"Impressive," Jake admitted once he'd made sure Tyler was done talking. "I think I understood about half of that."

"Irrelevant; all you need to understand is that this camera is specifically designed to capture encryption keys and feed them back to you – kind of like the Queen. Once you Bond with this camera, you'll be able to tune into its 'eye' any time you like, just like you can with Advena, except the camera can't refuse you access."

" _This… is a little unsettling,_ " Advena confessed. " _You're telling me we can Bond with machines now?_ "

"It's weird at first, but this could change _everything_. Imagine being able to control attack drones with your thoughts, being able to call an airstrike with your mind – imagine Bonding with an AI!"

"He's right," Jake agreed. "This could be huge. Alright, so how do I Bond with it?" Tyler grinned broadly at the cooperation. He looked like he was about to explode with excitement.

"Advena will be able to help you a lot better than I can; it's basically the same as Bonding with a Queen. Show 'im 'Vee." Advena shied away from the attention slightly, still feeling uncertain about this whole ordeal. Something didn't seem right about this, about using her kind's most intimate of traits, no, _exploiting_ it. A hand found her neck, stroking it lovingly, and before she knew it, Jake was crouched before her, placing his chin on her shoulder and hugging her tightly.

"Come on 'Vee; this could really help us. We need advantages like this if we're going to win the war." She sighed, doubt still churning in her stomach, but relented, silently sharing the necessary instincts with her lover. Jake kissed her dome appreciatively and stood. "Okay, here goes." He concentrated, using the mental exercises Advena had just taught him to relax his mental defences, concentrating on a single feeling of welcoming. Then a wave of sensations crashed over him. He briefly saw four figures – himself, Advena, Sal and Tyler – through what he assumed was the lens of the camera, before he was overwhelmed by flashes of images and voices.

He saw excerpts of his life – the day two marines knocked on his door to inform him of his parents' death, the day he signed up with the marines, boot camp, his first mission, his first kill, the mission where he'd been impregnated with Advena, and the rebellion of Reveles station. All defining moments for him.

And then, a rush of unfamiliar sensations. A muffled voice called to him, the words blurred and hard to make out, but Jake could have sworn he heard the words 'welcome home, Tyler'. Then he was a teenager being hauled from the wreckage of a crashed ship, and then he was being attacked and waking up in hospital, where a charming young man with a scar running down his smiling face was being treated for a bullet in the shoulder. Jake saw through the eyes of an adult now, excited for their eighteenth birthday, stripping the scarred man and pushing him onto a bed, he saw the day the scarred man failed to come back to a small rebel base, he saw Jeica rescuing him from a band of Insurrectionists, he saw Director Lenex patting him on the back and handing him an ID card, he saw the first time meeting the voice in his head, he saw, again, the rebellion of Reveles Station, but from different eyes this time. And finally, he saw the most recent defining moment of one Tyler Doelle; the choice to aid the rebels in their time of need, the scuttling of the _USS Black Hand_.

Still, the torrent of images didn't stop. Now he was viewing the life of a Xenomorph, being raised in a cage with her mother, a Queen. He watched as her family was slaughtered, as her Queen was put down, as she died, as she killed, as she escaped from her new prison, as she died again, as she hatched from a greenhorn marine, as she trained, as she escaped again in the rebellion of Reveles Station and as she lost her virginity. Advena's defining moments.

Next up, another Xenomorph, this one starting out similarly but digressing into a horrible display of slaughter, then starvation, then rivalry between two Hives for food, then the death of the Xeno's only family, then the Xenomorph himself dying, only to hatch from a young scientist, Bond, fight in the rebellion of Reveles Station and be accepted by his Bonded. From what he could gather, that made those Sal's defining moments.

But it all happened so fast Jake hardly had a chance to process what was happening, finding himself reeling back from a powerful wash of emotions, from the past and the present. Finally, everything seemed to calm down, the darkness began fading from his vision, and he could hear a voice crying out to him in his mind.

" _Jacob? Jacob? Please, answer me!_ "

"'Vee?" he croaked, sitting up slowly, still trying to blink away the confusion. He was on the floor, having crumpled soon after trying to Bond with the camera. "What the hell just happened?"

" _Jake! I think, I think I just Bonded with Tyler. And… Sal…_ "

"FUCK!" Tyler screamed.

"Don't. Yell," Jake growled, clutching his throbbing head. All the chaotic influx of memories gave him a feeling akin to having his head peeled open with a baseball bat. "Just tell me what the hell just happened."

"I – shit, such a fucking simple… coding error. It was a fucking coding error. I must have… the return code was…"

"You messed up the differentiation code," Jake interrupted, bitterly amused at his ability to gather Tyler's meaning from his thoughts. "The camera sent both our encryption keys to both of us, Bonding us together."

"And when Sal and Advena used telepathy to check on us, they inadvertently received both my key and yours, essentially creating a cluster-fuck of a four-way Bond. Shit."

"It's okay," Jake soothed before the scientist could begin his frantic pacing. "We can get Asphid to break off the Bond. Easy."

"That only works when we're part of her Hive, Jacob."

"So we'll join her Hive then," Jake exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air out of frustration. He wasn't exactly keen on charging into this whole 'Queen' thing, but they could end up with bigger issues on their hands if they didn't resolve this soon.

"Absolutely not. I refuse to let anyone have free roam over my body and mind like that; it's a violation of our most basic privacies. Besides, there's now three people who have my most personal and close-guarded memories in their heads, and I'll be damned if I let that become four – or five, considering Abraham and Asphid probably share everything between them. Then Asphid will probably tell all her Xenos then the whole god-damn neighbourhood knows."

"Asphid's not like that."

"You don't _know_ that – and don't even _try_ to bullshit me, I can feel your apprehension. You were _just_ thinking about how hesitant you are to join her Hive a minute ago. Besides this, there's also the fact that Asphid doesn't _like_ me due to my involvement with her Hive's imprisonment, so she'll be prone to search through my mind in excruciating detail."

" _Let's all stop yelling for a moment and consider this,_ " Sal pleaded, getting in the middle of the room and patting the air in a calming motion. " _We actually have somewhat of an opportunity here. Our relationships haven't exactly been great of late._ " He paused to give Advena a look, though it was unclear whether it was because she still held animosity for Sal's initial treatment of Tyler, or because of her constant pestering of her boyfriend to reconnect with the young scientist. " _And right now, we have the most efficient means of communicating our thoughts and feelings known to both our kinds at our disposal, so why not use these circumstances to… figure things out. Between us all. Then we can put more thought into how to solve all this._ "

"Sal," Tyler sighed, "there's really not much to –"

" _Advena and I are going to have a chat outside. Use this situation wisely, Tyler._ " Tyler huffed and folded his arms, able to do nothing but watch his boyfriend leave, Advena hesitantly following. When he failed to take his eyes off the door, even after it shut, Jake cleared his throat.

"So… I guess I tried to kill you that one time." Tyler stiffened, his heart rate increasing slightly as fear crept into his mind. Jake found himself surprisingly fond of this development; usually it was very hard to read the young man through his snark and anger.

"It doesn't matter; you didn't succeed." His tone was cold and biting, but his mind was awash with nervousness. Sal was right; this could make smoothing things out millions of times easier. Jake stepped into the ship's makeshift living room, flopped onto the couch, and patted the cushion next to him. Tyler sneered, but obliged, moving stiffly to take the spot.

"C'mon Tyler, tell me what's up. You haven't been the same since Reveles. When I first met you, you were timid and compassionate, and now you're just… an asshole."

"Well, what do you want me to do then? Do you want me to hold hands in a big circle and dance around and sing and pretend that we're safe and all is right in the universe? Do you want me to put down all my work, slack off and give up our only chance of ever beating the Wey-Yu? Do you want me to stop thinking logically, critically and objectively? The fact of the matter is you are all far too relaxed about our situation and that frustrates me. It frustrates me that I seem to be the only one concerned with our imminent doom and it frustrates me that nobody here has an IQ above double digits, so I have to take all the workload. Nobody else can even _understand_ the problems I'm trying to solve here, and to make matters worse, all these pricks seem to want to do is distract me from my work. Forget about the fact the Wey-Yu is about to go to war with Russia and our time is limited, Tyler, come waste our valuable time on a yacht chatting up the Queen."

"Tyler, I don't really know how to put this gently but… we're all going to die one day, and for a lot of us, here," Jake said, gesturing lazily in the air, "on Altin, that's going to be rather soon."

"That's the opposite of how to comfort someone," Tyler grumbled snarkily.

"I'm not finished. We could all die very soon, which is why we shouldn't spend all of what little time we have left working and worrying. I know when I'm lying on my death bed, I'll be able to look back on these days and say to myself: I lived good, I had a good run. Will you, Tyler?"

"What are you, a nihilist? We're all going to die anyway so may as well make the most of it while we got it?"

"I'm not religious, if that's what you mean. I don't believe some great bearded all-knowing man in the sky is going to reward me for working hard my entire life after I die, so I've gotta kinda reward myself along the way, y'know?"

"Fuck, Jake," Tyler chuckled, slapping a palm to his forehead. "This is the second time you've stopped being a twat long enough to surprise me. And you know what? You're right. You're right; my life has been pretty shit so far, and we're probably all going to die horrifically no matter how much effort I put into this war, so yeah, maybe I should make some happy memories. I've had a shit life, why have a shit death too?"

"That's… the spirit?" Jake encouraged uncertainly. He awkwardly slapped Tyler's back supportively like a dad would to their child at their first sports game. The sergeant didn't need his new telepathic link to feel how awkward the whole interaction had been, and they both unanimously decided to drop it and never speak of it again. "So, uh, wanna like, play some video games or something while we wait for our partners?"

"You don't have to humour me, Jacob," Tyler laughed, with a genuine smile.

"I dunno, I've been playing with Advena a lot recently and I think I'm getting pretty good. Hey, I've got a fun idea: teach me some tricks so I can beat her and watch her panic over it for a few days." They snickered together, set up, and flopped down on the couch to play video games for the next couple of hours.

~~~~~~~~~~(The Next Day)~~~~~~~~~~

"So, uh… what's this then?" Jeica inquired nervously. She cast a sceptical glance to Advena, who was brooding in the corner of the room atop a steel bench, spread out like a cat. She shifted her eyes back to the sergeant with concern crinkling her face, partly because of how anxious Advena seemed, and partly because of the messy device spread out in the centre of the room. It looked like somebody had taken four computers, strapped them together, then put a big box of Christmas lights and Hive resin on top, before shoving wires into every available surface haphazardly. A single screen, keyboard and mouse stood off to the side, wired in via a much tidier bundle of cables.

"Well, I got thinking, you see," Jake began. "I got thinking about Tyler's new discovery; the telepathic waves and the wave converter he had set up. Now, to my understanding, the adrenaline effect of Bonding where time appears to slow down is caused directly by an increase in processing power due to the Bond – adrenaline improves the telepathic abilities of humans, causing them to become closer to their partners while the chemical is in effect. So, in theory, if one were to Bond to a machine with high processing power, you could cause a slow-down effect of much greater magnitude – i.e., time will be even slower, allowing you to think about your actions more carefully etcetera etcetera. This device is a prototype, well, brain of sorts. Like a synthetic's brain, but with no personality or memories installed; only processing. Specifically, I paid strict attention to the creative and logical processing cores of synthetic programming to maximise the effects of the slow-down." Jake paused, to catch his breath, and took careful stock of Jeica, who looked confused beyond reason.

Not understanding the reason behind her confusion, he decided he needed to dumb down his explanation. "Basically, this machine will increase the amount of thinking and information processing you can do within a small time. This increase in perception means you can do things that would take a lot of time in a small amount of time, thus appearing to slow down time. For example, catching a ball thrown at your face with no prior warning would be quite difficult under normal circumstances because, A, your brain needs to process the image of the ball travelling towards you, B, your brain needs to recognise what the ball is and that it is in fact moving towards you, and C, needs to decide what to do about it so it can, D, send the appropriate signals to your body in order to make your limbs move to catch. Now, let's compare this to uploading a file. If you upload one five-hundred gigabyte file from one computer, it will take a while. However, if you upload five one-hundred gigabyte files from five different computers, you will upload the five-hundred gigs much faster this way. Basically, increasing the brain's processing power increases the amount of computers you have to upload the information, decreasing the time taken. Is any of this making any sense to you?"

"But… how did you _make_ this?" Jeica demanded.

"Well, I _did_ have to pull apart a few bits and pieces to get the necessary parts. You know, radios, motion trackers, computers, the usual suspects. But I think you'll agree that –"

"No, Jake, how did _you_ make this? These words you're saying make about as much sense as the shit Tyler spouts. Are you feeling okay?"

"Ah, actually, that's an interesting comparison. I've actually thought about it a bit, and the obvious answer seems that Bonding to Tyler has resulted in somewhat of a…" Jake rolled his finger through the air a few times while he searched for the right word. "An information exchange. I've inherited a few things from him, and he's gotten a couple of things from me. I talked to a couple of Xenomorphs about it, and they call it the 'bleed effect'. Well, there's also the 'meld effect' but it seems near impossible this would be the case at such an early stage of contact."

"Explain."

"Well, the 'bleed effect' is: when a Bonded pair are in contact with each other, traits will 'bleed' over their telepathic connection and 'infect' the other person. Say if person A has a nervous fidget, person B might develop that fidget while in telepathic contact with A. Now, the 'meld effect' is somewhat different in its permanence. The 'meld effect' is when two individuals spend so much time telepathically Bonded to one another that their minds sort of, cache information of the other person. Some of this information can be actively used by the brain. So say person A can speak English and Russian. Person B, when he focuses on that cache of information in his head, can open the little package and take that information. Now person B can speak Russian too, even when out of telepathic contact. This effect is a little unnerving actually, because a grieving mind can use these caches to reconstruct part of their partner's personality should their partner die, giving them temporary bursts of what could be compared to a multiple personality disorder."

"And this effect is only showing up now?"

"On the contrary; looking back, I can see several instances where opinions and pieces of personality which belong to Advena have manifested in myself – for example, at first I was unwilling to partake in interspecies sex, but Advena's opinion of the matter slowly bled into my mind and melded with me, and now I'm okay with it."

"Okay, but there's a little difference between being okay with fucking someone and suddenly developing hyper-intelligence. Advena, something's wrong here, right?" Both humans turned to the lone alien, who finally acknowledged their existence, nodding slowly.

" _Any Queen is perfectly capable of Bonding two Xenomorphs together, but it has never been done. There is a rule forbidding it. I can't help but feel there is a reason for that, and the reason may have something to do with same-species telepathic Bonds. And I'm scared of what could happen to Jacob, but he keeps telling me he is fine, and that this new Bond is good for us all._ "

"It _is_ good for us all. Imagine how overjoyed Tyler's going to be when he finds out I can help him with all his projects, that he doesn't have to stress out and be alone in his efforts! We can do twice the research and propel this Resistance straight to being war-worthy. It's – it's going to be… to… whoa…" Jake swayed unsteadily and held a hand to his head. Advena immediately leapt up and grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him, but he waved her off soon after. "I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just a dizzy spell. Y'know, all this new stuff coming into my brain can probably be a bit overwhelming for it."

"I don't like this," Jeica confessed bluntly. "I don't like any of this. Go get Tyler and figure this out. I want to know the ifs, buts, hows, whats and whys, you hear me?"

"Roger. I'll go find Tyler – not that he requires much 'finding' seeing as he spends all his time in his 'house'." Jake chuckled at his own joke, and Jeica offered an uneasy smile, her heart not really in the matter.

~~~~~~~~~~(Later)~~~~~~~~~~

"Well about fricken time!" Jake exclaimed. "Of all the days he could choose not to be a hermit crab, he chose today." He and Advena were strolling down the main street of Altin's colony, weaving their way through crowds and shops, their voices mingling with the idle murmur which covered such busy places like a shroud. Ahead, the sergeant had spotted the man he was looking for at an ice-cream shop, and they were currently pushing their way over, until they popped out of the stream of people at Tyler's feet. "There you are; we've been looking all over for – what are you doing?" Tyler raised an eyebrow with a playful smile while handing a kid who looked no older than ten an ice-cream.

"The kid got shoved and dropped her ice-cream, so I bought her a new one," he explained simply.

"Right…"

"So, there something you needed pal?" Tyler waved the child goodbye and began walking, silently implying Jake should follow.

"Yeah… I'm sorry, I have to ask: I thought you hated kids?" Tyler shrugged at this.

"Well, hate's a strong word… I definitely don't want any of my own, but, y'know, they're just kids. What decent human being is going to just ignore a crying kid?"

"Holy shit," Jake realised. "You inherited my ability to be a decent human being. I got your intelligence, you got my social skills – we both got something from the other which we lacked ourselves. It's so obvious now."

"But then what did you get from Sal, and what did I get from Advena?" Tyler smirked as he let that question hang, and his grin only grew wider when Jake had an answer for him. Was that pride?

"We haven't inherited anything from them yet. Which means… Which means Advena was right. This has something to do with us being the same species."

"Bingo."

"Cross-platform media?" Jake questioned, picking up on his friend's thoughts.

"Well, it's a good analogy, isn't it?"

"I suppose."

" _What are you two talking about?_ " Advena demanded.

"The situation seems to be similar to cross-platform media – a rather outdated concept seeing as the Corporation got monopoly over everything tech-wise a century or two ago, but it fits," Jake elaborated. "You see, back in the old days different companies would make different computers. For example, Windows and Mac. Both operating systems have their own file types, so a Windows computer would save text file to a txt, and a Mac would save to a note. If you try opening a txt on a Mac, no comprehende; it wouldn't work. Same for a note on Windows. But, there are universal files which can be opened by both, like a png image. Now, imagine Xenos are Windows and humans are Macs – because Windows was the superior operating system of course, so naturally that would be you guys. So, because we have different operating systems, a lot of our 'files' aren't compatible, so a lot of our traits aren't exchangeable. But for two humans, because all our file types are the same, it's very simple to transfer them backwards and forwards. All of them."

"Which means this has to stop," Tyler summed up. "Because if we don't, it'll be like the purple glass scenario."

" _Explain,_ " Advena grated out frustratedly.

"Uh, right, sorry," the scientist apologised. "It's where you have a glass of blue liquid, and a glass of red liquid. Now, little by little, with two spoons, you scoop out a little bit of red and a little bit of blue, then put them in the opposite cup. Not much difference at first. But if you keep doing this over and over again, eventually you'll have two purples cups, exactly the same. That's what could happen to Jacob and I; both of us would be identical – half me, half him and completely different to our original selves."

" _Yeah, no. We're going to Queen Asphid_ now _and getting Un-Bonded. Immediately._ "

"Let's not be so hasty," Jake protested, "we simply don't have the data to back this up; it's all guesswork at this point. I think Tyler's just being a bit paranoid. We should give this a shot and call it off only when we see the warning signs."

"Oh, look at you," Tyler snorted. "You get my intelligence for one day and you're prancing around like you own the place. Well guess what buddy, we're _already_ seeing warning signs."

"That's your paranoia talking and we both know it. Our current behaviours are well within resolvable parameters."

"Well… that's true, but it's a hell of a risk just so you can feel better about yourself. You don't have to prove anything, Jacob. You're good at what you do, I'm good at what I do. We can leave it at that."

" _Exactly. Let's go,_ " Advena agreed sternly. Jake held his arms out in a wide shrug, glancing from one person to the other with a mixture of confusion and something more sinister on his face.

"So… what? We're just gonna go over to the Hive and get Tyler on Asphid's hit list? She'll be on him like a hawk once she sees how involved he is with the Wey-Yu."

"Ooh, manipulation, that's low," Tyler snarled.

"Not as low as the man who uses it so often he can so easily recognise it."

"Oh give it a rest. At least I care about my significant other enough to listen to their feelings and concerns. If I were you, I'd apologise pretty quickly before she ends up despising you as much as the entire universe seems to hate… me…" Tyler trailed off hesitantly. A drop of cold sweat rolled down his spine as he realised under most normal circumstances, he would have told Jake to 'fuck off' and stormed back to his shuttle-home, but he had the sudden urge to try and help people. This was getting out of hand, and being nice was hard. "Well, I'm willing to make that sacrifice to get my sanity back, so let's do as the lady said and get going, ay?"

"Always taking each other's side… and you know what? If you know so much about pleasing women and she wants her dumb old boyfriend back to fuel her self-superiority complex, you can go ahead and keep her, fag." Tyler was speechless, and a little surprised when his heart fluttered in genuine hurt. Advena likewise let her jaw gape a little and, whether because he thought he couldn't take that back, or because he genuinely was sick of them, Jake turned and left them standing there together in the busy street.

Advena, through her newfound link to him, felt Tyler's pain and touched his hand with her own gently to grab his attention. He glanced down, still a little shocked.

" _Are you okay?_ " she asked gently.

"Yeah, I mean… wow… if that's the kind of anger I'm capable of, I think I've been doing a pretty damn good job of keeping it suppressed." He offered a weak smile, and Advena chuckled, relieved. "I think… for both your sake and his, we should let him cool off. You can crash at my place if you like." Advena smiled gratefully and pressed her flank against his leg appreciatively.

" _Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Thanks Tyler._ "

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"So, how have you two been holding up anyway?" Tyler asked idly. He was curled up on the couch in his shuttle-home's living room, with Advena curled up into a ball next to him and Sal lounging on the ex-pool-table atop a small mound of pillows. "Like, clearly the human-human Bond is a shit-show, so how's the Xeno side of things going?"

" _Not good,_ " Advena huffed. " _I, the Sal part of me, is constantly anxious about how well I'm performing in my relationship, and I, the Advena part of me, feels like shit because I'm probably responsible for that after berating him and trying to kill him a while back._ "

" _I can't stop thinking about sex,_ " Sal complained. Tyler chuckled lightly when he figured that was probably the reason he had been so awkward and quiet all day. " _And I'm afraid of my specie's natural abilities and characteristics because it might scare my partner away._ " Advena lifted her head slightly and exhaled peevishly. Oh, they were going to play that game, were they? She didn't care to stop and think the confrontational behaviour was uncharacteristic of Sal, and instead focused on her rebuttal.

" _I also feel like bottling up my personal problems because I don't want to be a burden to my partner._ "

" _I've developed the sudden urge to act irrationally when faced with someone who makes mistakes which I deem to be stupid. It might be due to my newfound need to overcompensate for my intelligence which I deem to be low when compared to the ingenuity of humankind._ " Advena growled and stood aggressively, baring her teeth at Sal.

" _I'm afraid of confrontation, especially when my significant other is involved. If I disagree with something he says, I'll keep it to myself because I'm a coward who feels everything they know is wrong and therefore I should not express myself, all because of a few mistakes I made long ago!_ " Sal hissed at this and matched her stance, refusing to back down.

" _I am very stubborn and refuse to admit I'm in the wrong even when I know full well that I am. I'd rather die than back down from anything!_ "

"Stop it!" Tyler commanded them, placing a hand on Advena's dome in an attempt to forcefully coerce her into lying back down. "Both of you," he added, shooting Sal a glare. Both aliens reluctantly dropped their aggravated stances when faced with the visibly-upset human, settling back down into slightly-tenser versions of their previous positions. Once he was sure they were placated, Tyler allowed himself to flop back and release a whoosh of breath. He needed to think of a solution, but that would take time, time he needed to spend with his friends and lovers trying to help them and soothe them in the confusing circumstances. "Damn it," he uttered aloud. He knew it wasn't him, but it's not like knowing something was wrong ever stopped anyone before, especially when powerful emotions are involved. He knew he shouldn't give a damn about hurting people's feelings if the help he was giving them in the long run outweighed that, but Jake was such a little do-gooder and now he was stuck with those tendencies.

Advena nuzzled him gently, trying to bring him out of his dark thoughts.

" _It's going to be okay, Tyler. You'll figure something out; I know you will. You're the smartest guy I know_."

"It's just… such an indescribably depressing feeling," Tyler confessed with a grimace. "Feeling yourself changing. Your morals, your personality, it's not you but you can't do anything about it. Feelings just don't go away, even if they aren't yours."

" _Come on, we're a couple of bad-asses. There's nothing we can't fight together – not even feelings._ " Tyler chuckled and put his arm around her as she snuggled closer, craning her neck to sneak in a little kiss from her lover, placing her lips on his from below. Tyler gently adjusted his grip on her, accepting the gesture and returning – wait.

He pushed her away suddenly, with enough force to topple her off the couch entirely. He stood and placed his hands on the top of his head, his eyes wild and confused.

"FUCK!" he screamed. "That's not – you're not –"

" _Tyler, I'm sorry I –_ " Tyler was hyperventilating at this point and doing his best not to pull his hair out. He began pacing, reciting something under his breath fanatically, like a man possessed by a fever dream. He could feel the emotions shifting below Advena's cool exterior as she silently ran through the same motions he was. She was desperately trying to convince herself that she didn't love Tyler; those emotions belonged to Sal. Tyler shuddered as he tried to console himself with memories of him and Sal, all the intimate moments they'd shared. His stomach churned a little and his face contorted at the thought of two males going at it. His panicked breath shortened further and he screwed his eyes shut, blocking out every voice and feeling which dared try to enter his mind via telepathy, cutting himself off from the entire world, except Sal, specifically. Maybe if he just isolated himself with his lover, things would go back to normal? To further this, he quickly pressed himself into Sal's arms, desperately embracing him while hoarsely whispering apologies to him.

" _It's alright Tyler, we'll fix this in the morning. It will all be over soon,_ " Sal soothed him. He cast a sour look at Advena, but otherwise did nothing but comfort Tyler for a few minutes, before picking him up and taking him to their room, leaving Advena to claim a place on their couch sullenly.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh…" Tyler moaned, clutching a hand to his head. His throat was dry and his head was pounding. His memories of the previous day were hazy at best and every inch of his body was filled with regret. "This is why I don't drink," he grumbled to himself because, quite simply, he didn't have the brainpower to form coherent thoughts without the crutch of speaking aloud. "Because this is what I imagine a hangover would be like."

" _Tyler!_ " Sal exclaimed once he'd sensed his lover had awoken, bursting into the bedroom as fast as the auto-sliding door would allow. " _I feel like myself again!_ " His hands were on Tyler's body in a flash, shaking him gently in an attempt to rouse him faster.

"I know, I know," he groaned, refusing to peel his hands away from his pounding head. "The personality displacement was only temporary because it was a side-effect of our brains processing the sudden influx of information. To understand the material given in a timely fashion, we had to temporarily become the person from whom the material originated from."

" _But why didn't you –_ "

"Because I was more Jacob than I was Tyler, so I didn't have the intelligence to figure it out."

" _But then why did he –_ "

"Because he was more Tyler than Jacob, so he was feeling rather spiteful and didn't want to tell us."

" _But it doesn't usually –_ "

"No, because the only two circumstances you can normally Bond under are when you have the Queen's mind as a buffer, or if you're Bonding to someone of a different species, which means the information flow is much more gradual as – according to the cross-platform theory – a human brain can only process so much of a Xeno's mind – and vice-versa – and it has to find those parts it can before it can process them. In fact, personality displacement _does_ occur, but it's so slow that we don't even notice it beyond calling it the 'bleed effect'."

" _So does this mean –_ "

"Unfortunately not," Tyler mumbled, pausing to grimace beneath his hands. "I can already tell there were some permanent effects, such as how I'm no longer just able to put my empathy aside when I feel like it. Man, Jake's life sucks if he's always caring this much about other people."

" _Still, it doesn't seem –_ "

"No, it doesn't. And that's what I'm still working on figuring out. If this is the worst of it, surely that's not bad enough to warrant banning Xeno-Xeno Bonding. Maybe we were wrong about the reason behind the rule? Or perhaps we'll encounter more problems down the road. All I know is for now I'm having a hard time thinking straight, so the theorising will have to wait. Ugh, speaking of straight… I'm ninety percent sure that me kissing Advena wasn't a dream."

" _It wasn't_." Tyler shuddered, feeling a sickening lump form in his throat.

"Ick. There wouldn't happen to be some kind of Bond ability where you can suppress memories for me, would there?" Sal chuckled and gently scooped the human up in his arms.

" _It's good to have you back, Tyler._ " The scientist smiled and let go of his head in favour of returning the embrace, albeit while cringing from the cranial pain.

"Good to be back."

Meanwhile, Advena had managed to tear her way across the open plains which spanned the area between Tyler's home and the colony of Altin. She weaved her way through the early morning crowds, past the shops and to the small house near the outskirts where she lived. Not bothering to knock, she barged the door open and ducked inside, already searching the interior for her boyfriend.

There, on the couch, an unconscious Jacob was slumped over the cushions with a blanket barely covering his lower half while a bare arm draped over the side, fingertips almost brushing the floor. Miffed, she stalked over and jabbed her finger into his side repeatedly, punctuating every poke with an impatient command.

" _Up up up._ " Jake jerked awake, sitting upright for a moment, before clutching his head and falling back down.

"Ah – my bloody head!"

" _Apologise,_ " she demanded relentlessly.

"Soon – I think I need a coffee and an aspirin first." He chuckled and peeled his hands away from his face, gently taking her hand in his. "Nice to see you back to your pushy old self. I was kinda worried when you just took that verbal beating I gave you."

" _Sal_ is _a bit of a pushover. But don't worry, now that I'm feeling myself again, you'll never have to worry about getting any slack. Now get up and make that coffee._ " Jake grumbled, but did as he was told, rolling out of 'bed' and shuffling into their modest kitchen area. While the coffee machine warmed up, he folded his arms and leaned against the sink, facing his girlfriend.

"So… what do you think this means for us?" he asked cautiously.

" _Well, the way I see it, like it or not, we're part of Tyler's experiment now. So far it seems that I can block Sal out just like I can when I'm mad at you, so we shouldn't even notice the Bond is there unless we want to._ "

"So… back to business as usual then?"

" _Not quite. There are some… minor, lingering effects. A little bit of retention of Sal's traits. Are you saying you haven't noticed anything of Tyler's that you've kept?_ "

"I don't know… I can feel his intelligence still lingering in the back of my mind, but I can't seem to bring it forward, you know? Like, I can't use it, but it's there." He frowned when he noted that all-too-familiar lost expression on Advena's face – except this time, it was directed at him, not his young scientist friend. "Like, I could explain to you how Tyler's Bonding gizmo works, but I couldn't make one for myself anymore. It's a really weird feeling. It's as if I have the know-how, but not the creative spark needed to use it." Jake handed her a steaming cup of black coffee before grabbing one of his own, albeit with a higher content of milk and sugar. "So I guess, uh, sorry for being a Tyler on you back there."

" _That's not a real apology._ "

"Well, I mean, to be fair, it _was_ kind of his fault. Actually, not even 'kind of'; it was entirely his fault."

" _Jacob._ "

"Okay, okay, sorry for being an asshole and saying all that shit about you. I love you 'Vee."

" _Apology accepted. And I suppose I should probably say sorry for that thing with Tyler._ "

"Thing?"

" _Romantic thing. I wasn't thinking straight – ironically, he was. Get it, because he's gay?_ "

"Wait, wait, did you and Tyler have sex?"

" _Well, goodness, would you look at the time? I've got some morning drills to run through, catch ya later Jake._ "

"Did Tyler fuck you?" Jake demanded, but Advena had already turned and sauntered over to the front door, a massive grin splitting her face the whole time. "Did Tyler fuck my girlfriend?!" Jake yelled after her.


	11. Production Value

**A/N:  
Q: "Advena got fucked by Tyler and we don't even get to see?"  
A: Geez Louise, has it really been that long since I've written a lemon for this story? I'll get on that I guess, throw some ideas at me if there's anything particular you'd like to see (Sal x Tyler anyone? Any takers? No? Ah well). To answer your question though: no, they didn't actually do the do; Advena just likes to mess with people, especially when they upset her.  
End A/N.**

Jake stood at the edge of the small crowd curiously, watching as Tyler barked a series of orders at a woman and recorded something on his PDA when done.

"Damn it!" the woman exclaimed as she headed over to her friends, who were all howling with laughter. "I just don't get it!" More curious than ever, he exchanged a look with Advena, and approached their young scientist friend.

"Hey Tyler," Jake greeted casually. The young man glanced up from his device and perked up slightly.

"Ah! Jacob! I have a shortage of volunteers at the moment, and you're a perfect candidate. Care to play a little game for a chance at winning twenty bucks?" Jake shrugged and stepped into the small clear area amongst the gathering of spectators where the woman had been moments ago.

"Sure, why the hell not. What are the rules?"

"I'm gonna give you a bunch of commands, and you have two seconds to do the opposite of what I tell you to do, alright? Like, when I say jump, you duck, when I say left, you go right. Three strikes and you're out, make it to the end of the list and you get the money. Any questions?"

"Sounds easy enough," Jake concluded, a little suspicious. But more than anything, he was confused to no end as to why Tyler was running little carnival games in the middle of town.

"Jump!" Tyler barked. Jake crouched. "Punch left!" Jake punched right. He began to feel a little embarrassed with all the enraptured eyes staring at him doing a little dance for the civilian with the PDA, but pushed forward anyway. There had to be some point to this, and he wasn't going to find out until he finished. "Spin right!" Jake spun left. "Crouch! Point up! Spin left! Point up! Punch right! Point right! Point down! Jump! Spin left! Punch down! Spin right! Point up!" Jake followed the opposite of Tyler's instructions perfectly with his honed concentration, and in no time at all, Tyler barked out his last order and began recording results. Without looking away from his screen, he offered a twenty dollar note to Jake, who politely refused. He hadn't really been doing it for the prize, more to figure out what the hell was going on.

"So, I'm guessing this is some kind of experiment?" he inquired, trying to peer over the top of the device to see the screen. Tyler nodded, humming thoughtfully.

"I was looking into psychological warfare, and whether it's possible to influence people's actions using telepathy. I have mixed results, so I'm gonna have to do a fair amount of analysing before I can give a solid conclusion. Hmm, having Advena nearby complicates things; I'll have to make a note of that… And probably run two tests on one person – one with their Xeno nearby, and one without. Mental strength is a huge factor here…"

"Anyway, Je – the Lieutenant wants to talk to you," Jake corrected himself quickly, remembering he was in public. "Something about a mission you wanted to propose to her?"

"Ah, yes, perfect. This is going to help immensely." Jake smiled a small smile at his friend's excitement, watching the scientist tuck his PDA away and take up position by Jake's side as they walked together to the bunker system Jeica liked to call a command centre. Peering at the young man, Jake weighed his options carefully. Ever since the little accident that had Bonded them together, Tyler had taken on a much friendlier stance, almost like he'd reverted back to his old self back on Reveles. He had no idea if the side effect was going to be permanent, so maybe now was a good time to get some information out of him.

"So, making missions now. Were you like, a tactical advisor or something? Back when you first joined the Resistance, I mean." Tyler barked out a short, good-natured laugh.

"Hardly," he snorted once he'd gotten over himself. "I was a driver. I drove troop carriers and kept the engine running while the boys ran out and fought to the death. Occasionally I'd drive an assault vehicle with a mounted turret or such, but mostly they just tried to keep me out of the way. That was, of course, until I got really good at it."

"Do tell."

"Well, as you know, my parents – what little I remember of them – never were really supportive of me. The Resistance were, and I wanted to make them proud. They gave me one job to do, and I practiced it every day, took advice from whoever would spare the time, took lessons from online courses, trained up in the garage. Of course, it never showed through because they refused to put me in a situation where I'd need to use skills like that. But naturally, they couldn't keep me in the clear forever. A simple recon mission went very southward and we took heavy casualties. We were ordered to retreat, but my truck was empty, so I drove into the combat zone and loaded up as many people who I could find that were still breathing. Vince, my Christian combat medic friend, was among them, and he helped by stabilising the passengers until we got back to our base of operations."

"No shit, a Christian and a gay, friends?"

"Actually, there's no reason to be surprised. The newest Testament of the Bible has somewhat of a revision tone to it. Vince used to tell me all sorts of cool stories from it, but what stuck with me was a lot of the new age stuff. I think Amends starts off something like this: 'The human race is, fundamentally, a flawed one. One only has to take a glance at our history to see the mistakes we have made, and never will there come a day where there is not something for us to fix within ourselves. Yet, God, the embodiment of perfection, created us in His image, so should we too not be perfect? No, because perfection is an illusion; to be perfect is to have no free will, and God is no slave. He too, makes mistakes as we, His children, do.'"

"I bet that went over well. How do you even write a new Testament in the modern day?"

"Hell if I know. Ask someone who was alive two centuries ago – oh wait, that's right: they're dead. But yeah, people were pretty sceptical of the new writings exceeept for when they predicted the arrival of the Federation. Accurately. Concerningly accurately. 'And if man should take it upon himself to do the work reserved for God, he shall not only face His judgement for such blasphemy, but the judgement of a mortal power higher than himself.' It's subtle, but there's more than a few references to aliens in there, with the Federation being the 'higher power' in question, of course. There's a pretty neat section about God creating the Universe as well. '… And man said, "O Lord, we wish to see more than our small world", so God created the stars. Again, man asked of Him, "O Lord, we wish to touch more than our small world", and God created the planets. One final time, man asked of Him, "O Lord, we wish to meet more than our small world", and God created life once more.' It's all quite poetic, and fascinating, really."

"What about you? You buy into any of it?"

"Not really. I like the messages it sends though, especially in this one part about love being love, no matter what form it takes. It really rings true for me as a fag and someone who likes to fuck aliens. Anyway, we got sidetracked; I was telling you about my time in the Resistance." Jake nodded, silently motioning towards Advena, who had broken away to get them all coffee alongside Sal, in order to get them to stop and wait without interrupting the young man.

The two of them made themselves comfy outside the small coffee shop's door, leaning against the beige-painted wall. "So where was I? Oh yeah, Vince. Well, afterwards, Vince and I were assigned to an evac squad, y'know, pulling people out of wrecks and battlefields and stuff, until I got my stomach all cut up." He patted his belly for emphasis, and Jake grimaced at the mental image of the ugly scars which lay beneath his loose-fitting T-shirt. "So, another of my to-be friends, Roy, shows up in the hospital one day, having gotten to know me through an evac mission where he was in a crashed jet. He offers me a little console and says, 'heard you liked video games and well, this was the best I could get my hands on'. It was one of those training sims you put people through before letting them handle expensive equipment. This one was for aircraft and spaceships, so while I was bedridden, I 'played' the sims, got to know dozens of flying vehicles inside and out. When I was released from hospital, I asked Roy about it and he agreed to further my training. And that's how I became unofficially combat-pilot-certified. He told me I had a knack for flying and after I mastered that, I went back to ground vehicles and started heavy armour training. After I joined the Wey-Yu, I will admit, I expanded a little more and got my Heavy Utility Vehicle Licence – Power Loaders, Forklifts, Trucks, hell, even Rail-Oriented-Transit-Vehicles and Cargo Trains. I made it my goal to ensure there is no vehicle in the US of A that I can't drive, and I'm pretty damn sure I achieved that."

"Jesus, and you're, what, twenty?"

"Coming up on twenty-three. I dunno, I've always been a fast learner when it comes to stuff like that. Machines, computers, engineering, mechanical sciences, it all just kind of… sticks, you know?"

"You're a damn child prodigy, you are. Where were you born, a lab?"

"Eh, some backwater Canadian colony on some moon out yonder," Tyler said dismissively, wafting his hand lazily.

"Canadian? I didn't realise they left the Federation."

"They didn't – well, ninety-nine percent of them didn't. There are two types of people who leave the Federation: those who get traction, and those who don't. For the American people, they got traction; when the first leavers left, _all_ the Americans left. When the first Canadian leavers left, none of the other Canadians followed. So now you've got barely enough Canadian people to fill a planet with no way back into the Federation and no way of claiming a slice of the galaxy as their own, and eventually, they just fade. Some immigrate, the rest slowly die off as their gene pool gets smaller and smaller."

"And you immigrated, despite being barely past puberty at the time?"

"Well, I mean… not legally, no… Lenex pulled a few strings to falsify me a citizenship when I joined the Wey-Yu, but before that? One-hundred-percent illegal alien."

"You hurt my American pride. A Canadian, of all nationalities. You're just trying to insult me."

"French-Canadian too, if I'm not mistaken."

" _I'm interested,_ " Advena stated as she stepped out the doorway between them, a steaming Styrofoam cup of coffee in each hand. Sal followed closely behind her, similarly decked out with drinks, one of which he handed to Tyler so he could concentrate on nursing his own. Advena, likewise, provided her lover with a coffee while she continued. " _I mean, French fries and French kissing are pretty amazing, let's see if we can get a three for three with this 'French can-add-ion' of yours._ "

"Jesus Christ Jacob, what do you teach this girl?" Tyler sighed in exasperation.

"The important stuff," Jake protested defensively as they continued walking.

"Oh, so an entire nationality isn't important enough to explain to her?"

"Aw come on, both the French _and_ the Canadians stayed in the Federation – they hardly count as individual nationalities anymore."

"That is true; the Federation doesn't give a shit about the minor details. Would be kind of nice, actually, not having to carry around so many labels. Isn't being human bad enough?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder with you…" Tyler punched his shoulder playfully with a mock-scowl. They stayed silent for a few moments after that, before Jake spoke up again. "So, how are you holding up, anyway? That whole personality swapping thing was a little fucked up…"

"Not well enough to talk about it," Tyler shut him down bluntly.

"You didn't want to talk about it yesterday, or the day before that either."

"And it's well within my rights to feel that way, so stop pressing the matter. I'm still figuring things out."

" _So wait,_ " Advena intervened before they could fall into a broody silence. " _French Canadian is a nationality?_ " Jake nodded the affirmative, his mouth too busy taking a swig of coffee, and his mind too lazy to use telepathy. " _And Tyler is this nationality?_ "

"That's right," the scientist confirmed.

" _Well, I guess it was a three-for-three after all._ " Tyler chuckled and waved her off light-heartedly.

"Oh stop, you'll make me blush," he drawled sarcastically. Finally, they came up on the half-concealed entrance to the underground bunker complex, which was little more than a raised hump of grassy land with a thick, steel vault door embedded into its face. Jake tapped the code in, and the bolts whirred mechanically, unlocking the hefty thing and swinging the door open automatically for them.

"Locked today," the sergeant commented idly. "Must be some important business talks going down."

"Or they're taking inventory. You know how uptight they are about their guns."

" _I'm pretty sure that's mostly your fault,_ " Sal sassed him, keeping with his newfound trend of being less of a hopeless pushover kiss-ass. Surprisingly, when asked about it, Sal revealed it was not, in fact, an artefact of Advena's personality left within him after the little Bonding fiasco, but a realisation which dawned on him during the spiteful words he and Advena exchanged during it.

"Oh what, I point a few guns at a few assholes and suddenly the whole world thinks I'm a maniac who can't be trusted with a firearm," Tyler cackled as they descended down the stairs into the enclosed steel walls which arched up above them into small tunnels. The exposed frame which reinforced the metal panels from the inside gave it a rather rustic look, and honestly weren't really doing much considering the thick, solid concrete which resided beyond.

They picked their way through the complex, occasionally having to press themselves to the wall (and the roof, in the case of the bulky Xenomorphs' case) to allow other people to pass in the opposite direction, until they finally arrived at the war room Jeica used to discuss missions.

"Tyler," Jeica greeted the scientist as he walked in, then raised an eyebrow in surprise at who followed. "Sergeant, fancy seeing you two hanging out again."

"You _did_ tell me to go get him," Jake reminded her.

"Yeah, but did I ask you to come back?"

"Yeouch," Jake uttered dryly as he sat down at the holo-table. Jeica grinned and motioned Tyler to go ahead, steeling herself to try and listen to whatever he was about to babble.

"Right, so, the way I see it, we're decently armed, right? Actually, don't answer that, your boys protect that armoury fiercely for a reason: your stash sucks. But, that's an issue for another day. Something we need is equipment, not just for us, but for the Xenos. That means custom building, and while pulling things apart works for smaller projects, I'm going to need an actual factory for bigger projects, and the building materials to go with it. Now, I have a perfect target it mind." Tyler paused to whip out a small external storage device, plugging it into the holo-table and quickly setting it up.

A display of a small planet alongside two models of small oil-rig like structures were projected, allowing Tyler to continue his explanation. "This planet is ideal. It's a mineral rich water planet with both a factory and mining operation set up on different sides of its surface. It's cheaper to manufacture where you mine, you see. It also means they'll have a huge storage of raw materials ready to be processed, and the fact that it's an ocean planet means there are very few spots calm enough to build on, so the security centre is a good distance away and quite understaffed. For this, we'll need three teams, two of which will be at least half Xeno half human, two colony construction ships, a bunch of explosives or thermite if we have it, guns, of course, rappelling gear and one of those Russian cruisers."

"That's surprisingly doable," Jeica agreed. "What's the plan?"

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

On the small, out-of-the-way ocean rimworld of Poseidon, a nervous security guard glanced out the glass panes which lined the front of his small office, out onto the expansive landing pad as it was pelted with rain from the moody, dark skies above. It was rare for anyone to come out this far, hence his apprehension, but they were the only populated planet within about a month's worth of travelling, so when a small colony ship came by running low on supplies, it was a call he had to acknowledge.

The structure groaned, but that was no cause for concern, as the factory had taken much worse storms than this one before. The ferocious waves smashed against the immovable stilts upon which the structure sat – or structures, rather. The security office was connected by a small – and rather flimsy – bridge to the second platform which contained the automated factory itself. He wondered if the storm stretched all the way to the other side of the planet, where the mining operation resided, until the distressing ship came into view, breaking through the clouds and swooping down gracefully to a landing. It was a huge thing, like most colony construction ships, and as such it was perched rather haphazardly on the landing pad which was significantly smaller than the vessel. Parts of the ship hung over the edges where too great a shift would send it crashing into the waves below.

The boarding ramp extended from the cockpit, and out came four figures, holding their hands up to shield their eyes from the stinging rain. They jogged over to the small office building, prompting the guard to get up out of his chair and approach the entranceway where his two co-workers were waiting.

The first stranger stepped through the metal detector, and the device went berserk, beeping and flashing its lights wildly. All three guards whipped out their guns.

"Sir, do you have any weapons or metal objects on your person?" the guard demanded, his aim not wavering. The man opened his thick jacket, revealing a bulky explosive device and a small sidearm strapped to the inside. "Holy sh –"

He stiffened as a gun was pressed against the back of his head. He slowly placed his weapon on the floor, knowing when a fight was lost. His two fellow guards did the same, finding themselves in a similar predicament.

Jake closed his jacket once more and adjusted it so it was comfortable again, nodding approvingly when Advena lowered her gun from the back of the guard's head and kicked his weapon towards her lover, the other Xenomorphs who had clambered across the roof and flanked the guards with her following suit. Handcuffs were taken off the guards' belts and slapped on their wrists while the team pulled out rappelling kits and stripped off their coats to reveal the Colonial Marine armour beneath, slipping on their helmets and flicking their visors down to keep the rain off their faces.

They headed back out into the storm and crossed the precarious bridge, clicking their rappelling hooks onto the support struts of the platform and abseiling down the sides, their Xenomorph counterparts not needing such excessive kit to get the job done. Each member attached an explosive device to a stilt which held the platform up above the water, then ascended back onto the platform and awaited as their pilot launched their ship.

Four crane hooks descended from the cargo bay of the colony construction ship, each one grabbed by a pair of soldiers and fixed to a corner of the factory platform.

"Alright team," Jake called out over the radio. "Anchor yourself to something – we're about to shake things up." He slapped his rappelling hook onto a guard rail and waited until his team had done the same before flourishing a small handheld device. Clicking the safety off, he twisted the arming lever and pulled the trigger. The thermite charges on the stilts lit up, hissing with the intense heat produced, cutting straight through the enormous reinforced beams within seconds. The platform shuddered, then swung violently, almost shaking the marines loose. The platform was now freely dangling from the colony ship above them. "Okay, pull us up Mathews," Jake ordered as he raised his gaze to the ship above, which was an ugly square of a thing with its cargo bay doors on the bottom, currently open so the cranes could dangle through it. The ship was used in colony construction to drop off pre-made structures, so why not pick them up, too?

The cranes whined, but performed their duty, slowly hauling the platform up into the ship's belly. Painfully slowly.

"Heads up, security has been alerted. You've got two fighters dispatched to your location," Tyler's voice crackled over the radio from his comfy seat in the Russian cruiser which had taken them here.

"Understood," Jake replied, accepting his Pulse Rifle from Advena and cocking it. The platform was, thankfully, slowly losing the momentum of its swinging, making it much easier for the soldiers to stand up properly.

"There's no way we can engage from this height, Sir, I'm gonna have to take her up," Mathews, the pilot, reported.

"Go ahead; we're all braced down here." The ship slowly began rising, its thrusters firing hot and loud, the slow movement produced seemed amusingly disproportional to the amount of effort the ship was putting in, likely due to the added weight of an entire factory. As the ship rose, the platform began swaying again, forcing the marines to lean against their guard rails for support and their Xenos to dig their claws into the metal below them. "It's a good thing we figured out you don't get sea sick already," Jake commented quietly to his companion, earning himself a quiet, stuttering hiss of a laugh.

"You've got thirty seconds on those fighters," Tyler updated them. "Charlie team is coming aboard now, we'll be waiting for you."

"Tyler, I know you're not a military man, but it helps if you specify a location," Jake jibed, keeping an eye on the horizon for telltale signs of approaching aircraft. Annoyingly enough, Tyler's laugh could be heard coming from the other end of the line, seemingly unaffected by the remark.

"Yeah, and I know you're not a pilot, but generally big fucking space cruisers tend to be in space. Ten seconds until the fighters have you in range. Try to take them out before they resort to blowing both you and the factory up with missiles."

There, breaking through the grey clouds, two, small, sleek black fighter ships came into view, wing-mounted Gatling guns already spinning up. Jake glanced up uneasily, seeing the platform was still about six metres short of being inside the belly of the construction ship where they would be shielded from gunfire. At the rate they were going, that could take up to ten minutes.

The planes roared past, close enough to shake the platform violently, firing off plumes of red smoke from their underbellies. Small pellets landed on the platform, bouncing and rolling, all while burning brightly, casting the area into a flickering red glow.

"Shit," Jake uttered. They had been relying on hiding in the darkness to avoid being turned into Swiss cheese. Plan B then. He knelt down, taking his hand off the railing to instead steady his rifle. He slid across the wet, rain-pelted metal, towards the factory building in the middle, before jerking to a stop after a metre, held in place by his rappelling line. He squeezed his trigger, the intense light from his muzzle flash blurring his HUD temporarily, but better that than a few seconds of absolute blindness caused by the sudden switch from pitch black to unbearable light. His helmet filtered out the worst of it, but it still threw off his aim as good as a slap across the face.

His team similarly began firing wildly, hoping to not only hit the armoured vehicles, but to hit something that would do any kind of damage to them. Once the ships were at a decent distance, they swooped around gracefully to come back for another pass.

" _I'll be back,_ " Advena promised him, before skittering off towards the factory in the centre of the platform, skidding and slipping every now and again despite her claws. Jake swore in his head, but kept firing at the oncoming vessels. It wasn't as if the muzzle flash could give away his position any more than the flares already were. The high-pitched squeal of 6000 RPM split the air like a scream, strafing the platform with sparks and bullet holes. Jake tried to roll aside, but ended up sliding over the edge. A few seconds of panic gripped him as he entered freefall, only to be jolted to a halt a metre below the platform, swinging side to side gently. The planes roared past overhead, going around for another pass, and here he was, a cross between a sitting duck and a piñata. The aeroplanes swooped around, guns already blazing while he desperately tried to haul himself up the slippery, wet cable, succeeding in only scrabbling frantically and jerking himself around in the air.

 _Fshwomph._ "Fuck!" _Twang._ Jake glanced over just in time to see a fellow marine go flying over the edge of the platform, flailing wildly and dropping a large tube-like weapon in the process, while a rocket flew out from where he'd been standing a few moments earlier. The leftmost plane was too close to evade, but it tried anyway, only for the rocket to smash right into its cockpit, engulfing its fore section in flames and sending it into an uncontrollable roll, still unloading rounds as it spun. One of the cables snapped as a single bullet tore through it, making the entire platform lurch and throwing off anyone who had still been standing.

A marine next to Jake went over the edge, the railing his line was attached to snapping off due to its current bullet-struck state. He was caught just in time by his Xenomorph partner, who grabbed him by the wrist and dug her other hand into the platform to anchor them. Seeing three targets in a single area, the remaining pilot zeroed in on them, firing off a torrent of bullets.

" _Grab them,_ " Advena commanded him from nowhere. Jake did as he was told without question, grabbing the Xeno's arm and pulling the three of them closer together. Advena slid over the side next to them, embedding her bladed tail into the platform as a makeshift rappelling line so she could swing, upside-down, in front of them, holding a thick plate of hardened steel in her arms which she'd obviously snatched from the factory.

And not a moment too soon, as bullets pelted the surface furiously. The plane roared overhead once more, rattling their bones with the intense sound waves. The plate slipped from Advena's hands, spiralling down into the waters below. It was, after all, a piece of a tank which was not light at all, even for a Xenomorph. She had been hinging her bets on being able to lean it on the floor of the platform, but that plan had fallen apart pretty quickly. Plus, one of those bullets had torn off the middle finger of her exposed right hand at the knuckle. That kinda hurt.

With the situation averted, Advena quickly set to hauling both herself and Jake back up onto the tilted platform while the other Xeno did the same.

"Tyler," Jake cried over the booming thunder and the whine of the two airborne vehicles. "What's the ETA on pick up? We're crippled here and we still have a fighter on our ass!" With only three cranes to bear the weight of the platform, all the constructor ship could do was make a sickening grinding noise and keep the platform where it was, unable to continue lifting it into the cargo bay. That also presented a less immediate problem where, seeing as the cargo bay was unable to close with a factory dangling out of it, the vessel couldn't be pressurised and therefore wouldn't be able to go into space for pickup. But it might be more beneficial to focus on the thing shooting at them, Jake decided.

"Uh… shit you lost the launcher?"

"Yeah, the kickback knocked him right off the platform. In case you haven't noticed, it's really fucking wet h – down!" Jake threw himself onto the floor, sliding back down onto the railing, almost managing to topple back over the edge again. However, the plane had come up on the other side of the factory, firing upon those who were still scrabbling for a foothold on the upper end of the platform.

"Five minutes. We can have a fighter fuelled and loaded in five."

"Not good enough Tyler! Think of something else!" Jake clasped his wet Pulse Rifle in his hands, thanking his lucky stars that it hadn't slipped off his shoulder when he had fallen, trying his luck at attempting to hit the fighter's engines.

"How much time do I have to work with?"

"Thirty seconds would be ideal, and we'll probably all be dead in a minute. So, you know, before then would be nice."

"Well shit, there's only one way to get down that fast. Make _certain_ you're all strapped on. Tight." Moments before the line went dead, Tyler's voice could be heard off-mic. "You, yeah, get me a line to the captain. Now!"

"If you're not anchored to something strong and sturdy, you'd better do something about it," Jake commanded to his team, before shakily unclipping himself from the flimsy railing. He shuffled his way across the platform on his stomach, edging closer and closer to the platform's anchor point with the shot-out cable. He flinched and cowered as a stream of bullets ripped through the metal platform nearby, striking a Xenomorph who had been crawling across it with its partner in their tail's grasp. It toppled, sliding down the wet platform and leaving a trail of bubbling blood behind. Thankfully, the rain diluted the acid as soon as it poured out of the alien's open wounds, so the platform's integrity was maintained. The two bodies hit the railing at the bottom, snapping it with the force of the blow and sending them both tumbling into the waves far below. "Shit!" Jake cussed, lunging the final few metres as the platform trembled. He clicked his line onto the sturdy anchor point, sighing in relief when Advena wrapped her tail around it and pressed her torso against his back for extra security.

The fighter turned its wide arc and hesitated on the guns. Now the pilot had three groups of targets who dared not move from their anchor points. Easy pickings, but which one to target?

He didn't get to decide, as a thunderous roaring filled the sky, shaking everything to its core. The clouds began glowing red as if infused with the anger of the gods, until they erupted into huge flames which licked the slides of a gargantuan steel hull. Beneath the glowing reds, yellows and oranges, white lettering proudly sported the words: _Без Жалости_.

The clouds were forced apart, hissing and spitting out of existence and in a surreal display of science, the surrounding area suddenly ceased to have any weather besides the howling winds, all the rain being evaporated at the source by a wave of intense heat which swept over the region, starting off well over a hundred Celsius above them, but thankfully cooling off before it reached the exposed marines. With the clearing in the sky, it was now possible to make out the shape of an enormous space cruiser, hexagonal in shape with two large spires sloping out the front while the midsection expanded to connect to the boxy rear which housed a plethora of FTL engines. Manoeuvring thrusters lined the bottom of the ship in droves, all flaring to a maximum to decelerate the giant ship in a timely fashion.

Now the fighter was swerving for an entirely different reason: to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. The massive hulk of metal which was the size of a small country groaned mournfully as it came to a hovering rest in the air and began turning slowly so its broadside was facing the fleeing vehicle. Six hundred pods filled to the brim with over five dozen missiles each popped out of the hull one after the other, from front to back in a wave while ballistic turrets rose out of the top, bottom, and midsection of the ship dramatically, like ghostly apparitions emerging from swampy water.

After all the show and tell, a single missile pod twitched and adjusted itself, before firing off a lone missile which arched high into the air, before falling back towards the ocean at great speeds, crashing into the fighter ship with devastating force, consuming it in a fiery explosion and obliterating any trace it had ever existed. The shockwave from the explosion reached the suspended platform which was a kilometre away from the impact, rocking the factory dangerously and causing the constructor ship to veer sharply towards the surface for a moment, only to right itself ten seconds later, albeit after some struggling from the overworked engines.

Jake groggily fell backwards once Advena released him, resting his back against the tilted platform floor, his stomach churning slightly from all the heavy rocking. Even Advena felt a little woozy after the whole ordeal, and her kind are much sturdier than humans. His helmet crackled slightly as comms were patched in from the ship, the voice on the other end much clearer now that the distance between them was insignificant.

"When you're done vomiting and staring in awe, feel free to come aboard via portside seven," Tyler suggested in a tone that Jake just knew was accompanied by a shit-eating, self-satisfied smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Back on Altin, in Jeica's designated briefing room within the concrete bunker, the lieutenant was leaning on the holo-table, head drooped in exasperation. To her right, a furious sergeant-major stood with his arms crossed and a mighty scowl on his lips. Across from her, Jake had his hands behind his back and his posture straight, while Tyler simply lounged on a chair – the only one in the room seated – with his elbow resting on the expensive table's surface.

"Let me get this straight," Jeica pleaded, the strain in her voice clear as day. "Hersley here says you flew an _Anchor-Class Battle Cruiser_ – after punching the captain, might I add – _into atmosphere_ , at _flanking speed_?" She rubbed her eyes warily, already anticipating the remorseless answer.

"Yeah. Also, in my defence, the captain wasn't cooperating fast enough for my liking. Besides, nobody except Hersley here saw anything, so what's the big deal? It can be our little secret."

"You little shit," Sergeant Major Hersley growled. "You could have killed us all! If you had even touched the surface, the entire fucking ship would have –"

"Hersley," Jeica snapped, holding out a stern hand to shut him up. She returned her attention to Tyler. "Was there any chance that you would crash the ship?"

"There's always a chance, lieutenant," Tyler said unhelpfully. "Nothing is ever guaranteed. In this case, the chance just happened to be incomprehensibly small. I know what I'm doing."

"So it seems," Jeica agreed. The holo table flickered to life, showing a beaten, but still functional, factory sitting in a flat, open area with a large storehouse of raw materials next to it. "Charlie Team recovered millions of dollars worth of military grade materials without a hitch, and Bravo Team managed to scrape through with the factory with minimal losses. Make this worth their sacrifices, Mister Doelle." Tyler spread his arms with a burdened smile.

"You say my name, yet you act like you don't know who I am. I'm Tyler Doelle – if anyone can make something worth your time, it's me."

"Get out," Jeica dismissed him. "Hersley, I'll finish our discussion later. Harlor, take a seat." Hersley looked enraged that no punishment had been dished out to the unruly civilian scientist, but did as he was told and ducked out of the room. Jeica nodded to the Xenomorph standing opposite the open doorway, who took it as their cue to prance inside quickly before the automatic door rumbled shut again. She took up residence on the chair next to Jake as the sergeant sat down, Jeica mirroring his actions.

"Is this official or…?" Jake asked awkwardly.

"Off the books. I trust you more than Tyler and that asshat Hersley, so what's your take?"

"I don't know what to tell you; I asked Tyler for help, he delivered. Honestly, if he had done anything else my entire team and I would probably be dead." Jeica nodded thoughtfully.

"You know that the smallest error would have crashed the ship into the ocean and detonated its reactor, destroying all life on half the planet, right? And you do know that flank speed is around three-hundred kilometres a second, right?"

"He seemed to think he could handle it and, quite frankly, he did. I trust my team Jeica, and Tyler's a part of that team now. After being in his head, I feel like I can guarantee you he's not going anywhere – as long as we treat him right." Jeica nodded acceptingly.

"And what about you two? Still holding up okay?"

" _A little bored, to be honest. It'd be nice to have a day job to do between missions,_ " Advena admitted. " _I just haven't really found one worth doing that I'm allowed to do._ "

"I _would_ suggest one of the thousand jobs in sore need of doing in my ranks," Jeica chuckled, "but something tells me you already have one in mind." Advena nodded guiltily, but Jeica just laughed it off. "Ah, it's fine, I still have Jake to be my lackey. Speaking of which, someone's taking double rations from the mess hall Sergeant, and the kitchen staff seem pretty tight-lipped about it." The lieutenant gave Jake an expectant look, causing him to sigh and give a loose salute in an almost mocking manner.

"I'll get right on that ma'am."


	12. Something New Every Day

**A/N: Sorry this one took so long to get out; life stuff and all that.**

"So anyway, turns out that the drone had actually found some pretty interesting stuff during its scan of the planet, but because I'd forgotten about it, I've just had a bunch of exciting mysterious energy readings sitting on my computer, collecting dust. I'd honestly love to go explore and find out what's up, but I think even more exciting than that is discovering more about the science and applications of telepathy," Tyler rambled. Jake had only really been half paying attention to the scientist's spiel, his concentration shifted more towards the coffee he was nursing between non-committal grunts of affirmation. They had spent a good portion of the early morning like this, sitting across from each other in their favourite café with their Xenomorphs by their sides.

Tyler raised an eyebrow, having noticed he hadn't really had the marine's full attention. "Not to mention, 'Vee and I plan to have a day today."

"A day?" Jake repeated, immediately focusing on the man's words.

"Well, a morning. She's gonna help me with some experiments, and in return, I'm going to teach her everything about the wider universe that you haven't. Well, I'm going to make an attempt, anyway; something tells me there's going to be a lot of gaps to fill."

"Yeah yeah," Jake dismissed him, having heard it all before. "I guess I'll see if Jeica needs anything done; she'll probably want a hand with screening all the marines here, making sure they're not gonna stab us in the back first chance they get. Anyway, you guys have fun – but not _too_ much fun."

"Jacob, we're going to be spending a couple of hours talking about politics, science and technology. Not even I, in all my infinite intellect, can dull the amount of fun we'll be having."

"Well, teach me something when you get back," Jake told his girlfriend, before standing, stretching, and wandering out of the small café. Not before catching the sly grin Advena was beaming – the same one she always wore when she had some cheeky plan in her devious mind. The sergeant could do nothing but huff amusedly and anxiously await their reunion.

Advena, for her part, watched her lover leave while she downed the rest of her coffee. Tyler was waiting politely for her, busying himself with something inconsequential on his PDA so as not to make her feel awkward, having finished his own drink and meal long ago.

" _I love slow mornings,_ " Advena commented idly, swirling what little remained in her cup around in slow circles. Tyler glanced up curiously from his device, sheepishly closing the RTS game he'd been playing. " _I don't really have the heart to take it up with Jacob, but sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out to be a soldier._ "

"You're good at it," Tyler told her cautiously.

" _That's not really in question. It's more if I_ want _to do it, rather than if I_ can _do it. All the rules, the training, the stress… I don't know. I think I'd be happier doing something a bit quieter. But that won't be possible until we win this war, so there's not much point fretting about it._ _Anyway, my point was that I like slow mornings._ "

"Yeah, I guess it is kinda nice not having to worry about getting mauled, shot, kidnapped or experimented on for a while," Tyler agreed. "Shall we get going then?"

" _Sure._ " As they left the quiet café and made towards Tyler's home, they briefly chatted about the sorts of things Tyler wanted to teach her, and about how he wanted to concentrate on space and nations for the day, seeing as that seemed pretty vital to understanding why the whole war was being fought in the first place. When they arrived, Advena was surprised to note the garage-like structure which had been under construction for many weeks had been completed and attached to the side of Tyler's space-shuttle-home. It was there that they entered, and Advena was given a chance to look around the rather bare, but large, room.

The only pieces of furniture present were the benches which were fixed to the walls and the holo-table which had been set up in the middle. It wasn't in a designated room, so the spindly frame which supported the cameras and projectors high above the table's surface weren't hidden away in the shadows of the room like they usually were. Tyler told Advena to wait beside it and that he'd be right back, before promptly disappearing through the airlock door which protruded through one of the building's walls, no doubt leading into the shuttle.

Advena simply studied the room for a moment, discerning that this was probably going to be Tyler's lab – completed just in the nick of time, apparently, as some of the benches were already stocked up with bits and pieces Tyler had produced using their recently-acquired factory. Half-finished devices and the occasional suspicious flask of liquid rested on many surfaces, and Advena even recognised the skeleton of a Pulse Rifle's inner workings resting on a small stand – though whether it was being pulled apart or put together was impossible to tell.

Finally, Tyler returned – albeit in Sal's body – carrying a small ring-shaped device which looked unsettlingly familiar, yet distinct enough that she couldn't recall what it reminded her of.

" _Oh, uh, Sal needs my body to record the results of this experiment. Y'know, Xeno fingers being big and clumsy and all. Er, no offense,_ " Tyler gushed as he paced over. Advena waved his concern off, being well aware of her kind's annoying inability to fluently interact with human technology. Though Tyler had been doing a good job of custom-engineering stuff for her when he had the time, like when he extended the trigger guard on her Pulse Rifle – good _Lord_ that had felt so much better. " _Now I know you probably aren't very fond of collars –_ "

Of course, now she knew why the device looked so familiar. It certainly held some similarities to the shock collar she had been forced to wear back on _Reveles_ Station. She hissed reflexively at it and backed away slightly. " _This one is different!_ " Tyler protested. " _It's the most convenient design I could come up with. I promise it can't hurt you – all it can do at the moment is monitor telepathic activity, that's it._ "

Advena peered at it suspiciously, finding that it did, indeed, upon further inspection have quite a few differences in its design from her old shock collar. It consisted of a small round device with a large LED on the front and a strap with a cord which ran to a small box on the back. A small red light blinked periodically, indicating the device was on. Tyler lifted his head and pointed at his own neck, where an identical collar was nestled comfortably, blinking away. " _I'll explain more about it after I've taught you more about the universe – you don't have to wear it now, just keep it close by as it only has a short range._ "

Reluctantly, she extended a hand and accepted the device from Tyler, dutifully clutching it close to her chest, but refusing to put it on for the moment. " _Now, on to the good part._ " With an awkward flourish due to his temporary size, Tyler swept a hand across the holo-table controls, activating it as well as apparently putting in a mess of letters, numbers and symbols into the interface. He cursed and fumbled for a moment, deleting the characters from the search bar and painstakingly bringing up a folder marked ' '. Finally, the projector flickered away from the dull blue interface and was replaced by an awe-inspiring burst of twinkling white lights; stars.

The map zoomed in on one star in particular, showing a small collection of planets orbiting around it with a large yellow arrow indicating towards the second planet from the vibrant star. " _That planet there, is us; planet Altin. Planet Altin is in American owned space, as you know, but what you probably haven't heard of is a divide between what we call the 'Core Worlds' and the 'Rim Worlds'._ " Tyler made a motion like he was trying to clap his hands on the holographic projection of Altin, and the map zoomed back out. He traced a circle around an arbitrary collection of stars, leaving a deep blue trail behind on the projection. He then made another farther out, this time in yellow. Advena watched, enraptured, as the circles calculated themselves into spheres. It was odd how small the blue sphere was compared to the enormous yellow sphere.

Tyler, however, was quick to explain this. " _Back on Earth, before the whole Federation business went down, there were fifty states of America. Now that Earth is under Federation control and we can't go back there, we decided to re-create the fifty states, this time as entire planets, each in its own star system. These fifty stars are the Core Worlds, in the blue circle. The Core Worlds are your average utopia; everyone is happy, having a job is basically optional, healthcare is virtually free, every aspect of your life is automated and you are catered to twenty-four-seven. Now out here…_ "

Tyler pointed at the significantly larger yellow sphere which surrounded and encased its smaller counterpart. " _In the Rim Worlds is your typical_ dys _topia. Out here everyone is disposable and works dangerous jobs every day of their lives just to earn table scraps. Out here, people disappear just like that._ " Here Tyler paused to snap his fingers dramatically, despite the fact his awkward handling of his digits didn't produce any noise. " _Because out here is where the Wey-Yu does all its dirty human experimentation and weapons testing and illegal, immoral crap that they don't want the prissy brats in the Core Worlds to see. Out here is where the Wey-Yu forces human beings into what is essentially slave labour to fuel their shiny empire of aristocrat shit-stains._ "

Tyler let that one sink in for a moment before continuing, checking that Advena was still willing to listen. " _But, an important result of this is the differences in our militaries. Oh sure, the only soldiers you'll find in American space are Colonial Marines, but the Core World Colonial Marines would turn their noses up at any Rim Worlder who dares call themselves a real soldier. They would scoff and think about how dirty and savage we are. But the thing about them is that, sure they have training and the best gadgets, but they don't have_ experience. _They're all there for show, to make the citizens feel they are well-protected. They're still blindly following protocols written two centuries ago, while out here, we've learned to throw the book away and adapt. Sure, our marines can't pull off a parade formation and most of the time the chain of command is pretty fucking compromised, but you know what we can do? Hold our own against Xenomorphs. Let me tell you, if even_ one _of you rocks up at_ their _door, they're either going to piss themselves and run or get absolutely slaughtered. This, this is our advantage. Their self-imposed isolation from reality is how we can get these fuckers and take down the Wey-Yu. It's our one chance._ "

" _Tyler,_ " Advena gasped in mock-shock, even going so far as to hold a hand over her chest daintily. " _For a moment there it almost sounded like you actually believed we could win this war._ " In fact, she didn't dare say it aloud, but the passion behind his words hinted at the fact he might actually be invested in their cause as well, despite his talk of being a 'Rogue Element' and excuses of 'being kidnapped'.

" _As long as you people keep listening to me, we just might,_ " Tyler jibed with his newfound cool. " _Now, you've met Russians before, correct?_ " Advena nodded. She'd never really had a proper conversation with their temporary Russian friend way back when, but she'd seen enough of her to understand the whole 'different nations' thing. Also, Jacob had explained the significance of the Russian Revolution which was all over the news and how the Weyland-Yutani had been ostracised from their country so the Russian Corporate were taking refuge in America and other things which made her head hurt. Human politics were so much more complex than Xenomorphs'.

Tyler quickly regained her attention by waving his hand over a section of space to the left of the yellow American bubble – relative to her, of course. It lit up with a large red sphere, only slightly bigger than the yellow one. " _Russian space,_ " Tyler explained simply. " _Note how relatively small the distance between us is. That's a month's trip by a standard American ship, or a few hours by our fancy new Anchor-class Russian ship. Considering the vastness of this galaxy, let alone the universe, that's pretty close. Now over here, about six months' journey from American space…_ " Another gesture, and this time, instead of a bubble, a massive wall of white encompassed the entire right side of the map, stretching as far as the holo-table was capable of projecting. " _That is Federation space. Anyone who goes there never comes back. Shot down? Imprisoned? Immigrated? Nobody knows because they basically refuse to talk to us at this point._ "

" _Okay, but I'm confused. If the Weyland-Yutani Corporation manufactures everything in both American and Russian space, how come Russian ships are better than American ships?_ "

" _Actually, I wondered that as well. Curiously enough, the Russians equip their soldiers with tech that the American people have outdated half a century ago. My guess is that it's a contingency plan of sorts; you give the Russians good ships but bad weapons, and maybe the Chinese have really powerful computers but shit ships and weapons. That way, no one nation has every piece of the puzzle, but the Wey-Yu, which has its fingers in all the pies, has access to every piece of the most advanced tech from every nation._ "

" _That way the Wey-Yu always stays on top because they have the best of everything, meanwhile the nations they rule only have the best of one thing. Makes sense,_ " Advena agreed. " _But we're in cahoots with the Russians now, which makes us stronger, right?_ " Tyler grimaced uncertainly, the gesture looking somewhat unusual on his alien features.

" _I'm not sure. They certainly seem to want to help us out, but we don't know how far they'll go. Is their little gift where their generosity ends, or do they intend to supply us more? Will they fight by our sides? But most importantly: why? I can't figure out a justification for it all._ "

" _Maybe they don't want the Wey-Yu to come back. They might not be able to win twice, especially if the USCM is bulking up their numbers. Or maybe they just really hate the Corporation so much they don't even want it in the bubble next door to them._ " Tyler was visibly confused for a moment, before realising the 'bubble' she was referring to was the yellow sphere still being projected between them. " _I know I feel the same._ " The holo-table clicked off, bringing Advena back to reality before she could brood over all the wrongs the Corporation had done to her kind. Tyler made his way around to her side of the table and touched her shoulder reassuringly.

" _Maybe that's enough politics for today. Let's move on to some heckin' cool science, eh?_ "

" _Yeah, good idea. What do you need me to do?_ " Tyler's posture shifted slightly, and his head turned towards the door, where Sal, in the human's body, entered carrying a small tray of boxes and wires, hooked up to a small computer.

"I'm just going to need you to recite a few things," Sal – no wait, Tyler was back in his own body now. Advena placed a hand on her carapace while she sorted it out in her head. They shifted from one body to another so seamlessly; it was hard to keep track of them, even for her. Tyler set the tray down and plugged his PDA into it, before sitting down next to it and tapping something into the device. "Give me the alphabet."

" _The alphabet?_ " Advena repeated, dumbfounded.

"Ah-ah! Please refrain from saying anything other than what I tell you. It disrupts the program." Right, answers would have to wait 'til _after_ she jumped through his hoops. Any other scientist would have got a tail flicked in their face and a moody exit of the room, but she could tolerate this behaviour from Tyler. Dutifully, she ran through the alphabet aloud – or what passed as aloud in the land of telepathy. Tyler ran her through a few odd phrases, including something about a brown fox which was apparently fast. She was even faced with a few words she'd never heard of before, which Tyler eventually taught her, but something about his victorious smile told her that it was all part of his plan.

Finally, the human seemed satisfied, putting his PDA aside to address Advena more freely. "Alright, that should be enough to work with. Now, before we go any further into this, I'd like to introduce you to someone who'll be helping you." He clicked the computer on. Brief flashes of code danced across the screen, before the pixels converged together to make the featureless, blue silhouette of a man. A black box at the bottom of the screen spat out lines of text, reading: 'Welcome. Please input command:'. "This is VIGIL; the Virtual Intelligence for Guiding and Interfacing Language. He's going to help the translation matrix learn new words and translations based on context and the framework we've given him over the past couple of hours."

" ** _Translation?_** " Advena inquired. Strange, she could hear herself speak. With her ears. She glanced down at the collar still clutched tightly in her hands. " ** _Whoa… this is new_** ," she proclaimed both telepathically and aloud. Every time she spoke, the LED on the front lit up orange, flashing with every syllable spoken.

"I've been working on a way to give Xenomorphs the ability to use radios and thought, hey, why not just strap a radio to them so non-telepaths can hear them too? And then I came up with a slightly more dignified way of doing so. A collar seemed the most comfortable and convenient way for a variety of human-psychology-related reasons, and the little light makes sure people know who's talking if there were to be a room full of Xenos wearing these things."

" ** _And Sal… and Sal has one… wow, this is really disconcerting. Sal has one too? Why weren't you using it?_** "

"It's… complicated. The data I collected from you is _your_ words, laced with _your_ thought patterns and emotions. These… artefacts of your personality contaminate the words you say, so anyone who doesn't think and feel the same way you do wouldn't be picked up by the device. Seeing as Sal and I are different people, the device didn't pick up on the exact signals it was looking for in my telepathic voice, so it couldn't translate it. To counter this, I'll need at least a few dozen Xenomorphs' worth of data so I can find the common signals and filter out the artefacts. In theory of course; I haven't done nearly enough testing to confirm, but that seems like the most likely case. For that reason I'll need you to come back and check in every few days. For now, just go out and talk a bunch, let VIGIL learn new translations for you."

"Also, try directing your telepathy at the device," Sal advised through his collar. "Telepaths can get headaches if you keep talking both aloud and telepathically for too long."

"Just like whispering, I imagine?" She gave herself a self-satisfied grin as Tyler patted her flanks encouragingly.

"And this is why I always call you first. You'll lose the monotone after a bit, and once you figure things out you'll get more advanced control, like being able to whisper or yell."

"Oh man! There's – oh, there's a few people I can think of that I want to talk to!" Advena exclaimed, bouncing from foot to foot excitedly. Well, she seemed the exclaim anyway, as her collar didn't waver from its unenthused monotone.

"Just bear in mind the AI will be listening in. He's not advanced enough to have emotions or opinions or anything, but still, it's gonna be saved to his database. If you end up saying something you don't want to, hit that button there on the side." Tyler indicated a small protrusion painted red for convenience, and Advena nodded her understanding. "Now, despite what I just said, I've only tested the whole incompatibility thing between Sal and myself. Seeing as we're different species, it's entirely possible that Sal's data will come in handy for a fellow Xeno such as you, so VIGIL is loaded with all that. If you hit a glitch and start talking in Sal's voice, feel free to flag that as well and I'll work out the kinks in his algorithm as I go."

"Understood," Advena confirmed, mind already racing with what to do first. Come to think of it, there was someone she'd been wanting to talk to for a while now…

"Ah! Wait, one more thing. Well, two more things. Power switch is on the back, next to the clasp, don't get them mixed up. If you run out of power, come back here and I'll swap the battery out for you. Apart from that, you have my number – and calling me will actually do something for us now."

"Okay Tyler," she chuckled – which was a disconcerting juxtaposition as the stuttering hiss fell from her lips, but there was no humour present in her computer-generated monotone.

"Go on then; Sal and I have plenty to work on in the meantime," Tyler insisted, almost shooing her away. It was impossible to tell whether the reason behind this was to get her out there collecting data for him, or if it was simply so he could have some peace and quiet for his next project. In fact, the real reason behind it all was because Tyler had taken Jake's advice to heart and was going to spend a little time simply enjoying himself in the company of his boyfriend, but Advena wouldn't have believed that even if he'd told her himself.

Regardless, she obliged the human and hopped out the door into the world beyond. She didn't carry around a phone for obvious reasons, so it was a short sprint before she could make a call.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm honestly speechless," Sue, one of the two staff members who ran the colony's daycare, admitted sheepishly. "When I talked to you on the phone, I thought it was a prank or something. That's incredible; is it the collar that does it?"

"Correct," Advena confirmed with a nod. "There's a little … _artificial intelligence_ inside which helps me. I'm… still learning how to use it." She had to do a double-take when saying 'computer person' in her head was corrected to 'artificial intelligence', but supposed the latter version would be more helpful to her associate.

"Amazing…" Sue breathed, a little in awe. "How does it work? Converting thoughts to speech?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Tyler," Advena chuckled. "I'm just the _guinea pig_." There it was again; she was being corrected. It struck her for a moment that these were words Tyler – or someone telepathically Bonded to Tyler – would use and decided to take it up with the scientist later, as it would probably get annoying pretty quickly.

"Ah, he's the gay one isn't he? A shame, really."

"A shame that he's gay?"

"Oh, no, of course not. I mean a shame what's happened around here." Sue gestured to the town around them from their position on the curb of a quiet street corner. "The Resistance is a pretty welcoming place for the most part, but here on Altin? With such a small community, nobody was stupid enough to pick fights with people because of their religion, sexuality, nationality or… artificial status. Ever since all those marines rolled in though, I've noticed a steep rise in bigotry. They're all still brainwashed by the Corp I reckon."

"I haven't noticed a lot of _diversity_ here – do you even have all those things?"

"Oh, sure we do, they're just less keen to poke their heads out with said bigotry clouding above them. We have a Japanese guy here, top tier architect, manages most of our construction projects. We have a Hindu gal and a couple of Christians – one who follows the old Bible and one who follows the new, but they still pray together which I think is kind of cute. We had a Russian bloke here for a while, but he moved on to become a lieutenant on a colony with more dire need than us. We of course have a lesbian girl – only one, which is kinda sad but she seems to stay pretty chipper. We've got a bunch of synthetics and genetically-engineered fellas around. Oh, and you probably would have noticed the accent; I myself am Australian. Well, what passes for Australian 'round these parts anyway. Australia didn't leave the Federation, so I'm actually sad-little-oxygenless-moon-ian, but Australian is less of a mouthful so I stick with that."

Advena nodded slowly, trying to process all of that. It was certainly interesting to her just how diverse humans could be, even if she didn't know what half the words used to describe them meant. It was odd to Xenomorphs to see how much more comfortable humanity was when they had labels slapped on everything for even the most minor of differences. She had no doubt if and when Xenomorphs were more widely accepted that all sorts of unwarranted descriptions would be added to her; for example, she happened to have somewhat of a defect where every body she'd had ended up growing slightly shorter in height and a slightly longer tail. It was a common enough occurrence that the humans would probably make it a 'nationality'. Or was nationality the one which dictated where people are allowed to live? She got confused. However, that was probably something she should have a deep discussion about with Tyler rather than the woman she barely knew.

"Well, that is somewhat comforting to hear," Advena admitted hesitantly. "It's probably quite important for children to grow up with a wide range of different people to interact with."

"Exactly, and it'd be even better if we could get someone as… 'different' as you to work closely with them. Studies say the most influential figures in a child's life growing up are their parents, friends and teachers, so it'd be nice if at least one of those figures was an alien, y'know?"

"So… that's a yes then?" Advena inquired hopefully. Sue nodded, but held up a finger before the Xeno could celebrate.

"But, it'll be a while before you can actually work with them. Like, usually people have to have a few years of university degrees behind them before they can even come close to doing placements and working in daycares – but, considering your position and our current situation, I'll let you off with a little homework." Sue produced a small device the size of a bite-sized chocolate bar and placed it on the table for her alien acquaintance. "This has a collection of videos and guides and stuff, even a few quizzes if you're feeling adventurous. It'll get you started, but either Ben or myself are going to have to train ya properly before you can work with the kids."

"Good," Advena praised her, "I think it is important to have a good amount of hurdles preventing just any old street-goer from working with impressionable children."

"Well, you have my number; keep me updated. And good luck, Advena. I hope this works out for us, but I understand if you have to ding-dong ditch to go to war – I'll be happy to have you back after though, so long as you promise not to scar the kids with war stories." Sue winked playfully and unfurled her body like a ship's sails, stretching out the kinks in her muscles from having sat on a concrete curb for so long.

"Thank you. I appreciate your _willingness_ to work with me, even after everything our species have done to one another."

"Eh, you guys aren't so bad; all the folks who're Bonded only have good things to say. I look forward to being able to actually talk to you guys directly though – send Tyler my love, will ya?"

"Will do." Sue grinned one final time and waved goodbye, before heading off at a leisurely pace, probably tracking down her partner at the daycare, Ben. Advena decided to remain in their sunny spot for a while longer, laying down on the warm pavement in order to better soak up the sun's rays. The gentle, humid warmth which radiated throughout her body was so calming, she felt her muscles relax, her breathing even out, and so began the telltale signs of dozing off…

Until a midnight black posterior plopped down a short distance away from her. Advena huffed in minor annoyance, shaking off her drowsiness and lifting her head to take stock of the newcomer. She reached back, fumbled over the clasp of her collar, before finally finding the switch and flickering her translator off. " _Yes?_ " she demanded expectantly. The other Xeno began to fidget embarrassedly, not making eye contact.

" _A-am I bothering you?_ " he asked timidly. Advena considered her options carefully, and decided a characteristically snappy remark would probably just scare the nervous little guy away, so instead composed herself and shook her head.

" _I wasn't doing anything important._ "

" _Oh! Good. I'm glad. I mean, well, I'm not exactly glad that you weren't busy – not that there's anything wrong with relaxing – but I'm glad I wasn't disturbing –_ "

" _Wait a minute… Mozart? Is that you?_ " The Xenomorph startled and interlaced his fingers, squeezing tightly as if doing so could quell his nerves.

" _…_ _Yeah…_ "

" _You sound different._ "

" _Uh, yeah, new Host, new voice… you know how it is…_ "

" _Ah, so you and Jeica went through with the whole splitting up thing?_ " Mozart shakily nodded, his fear likely not misplaced as Advena wasn't sure how to feel about that. She felt angry at Mo for being disloyal and causing so much grief to Jeica, but an annoyingly reasonable feeling nagged at the back of her mind, telling her this was better for everyone; Mozart wouldn't be dragged into battle, and Jeica would find a more suitable partner. Surely it wasn't worth attacking someone over regardless, as her first instinct had been. " _Why are you here?_ "

" _Maybe I should just go…_ "

" _Mozart,_ " Advena growled, rising slightly to stare the smaller male down. " _Spit it out now before I lose my temper. Sal's forgiving nature can only hold me back for so long._ " Mozart honestly didn't know whether to be comforted or not by the fact Advena's fury was being kept in check by something beyond her control, but he certainly knew not to push his luck, so he lowered his gaze and began explaining himself.

" _I have Bonded with another, a librarian girl who was raised here on the colony. I just… wanted to know how you, you know… convinced Jacob to go further. Like I-I know it's not going to be an immediate thing! I'm willing to be patient and wait and all that but, well, you and Sal are the only ones who have successfully gotten romantic with a human and Sal doesn't really count because Tyler is a bit of an unusual human so really you're the only person I can get advice from and I know you don't really like me because I upset Jeica but it's better for all of us because now we can be happy with partners who actually suit us so can you please help me?_ " Mozart rambled, hoping to vomit up all the facts before Advena could pounce him. He winced and awaited a reaction while Advena contemplated.

" _Okay,_ " she answered simply, with a shrug. Mo recoiled like he'd been physically struck then, as if realising he hadn't, perked back up hesitantly. Surely this was some kind of trick?

" _Really?_ " he asked incredulously, hoping it would be so but expecting the Xeno before him to bark out a sadistic laugh and tell him no, it was all a ruse. But Advena simply said:

" _Yeah, why not?_ " Finally, Mo worked up the courage to face her, sitting on his haunches with his back straight as an arrow, paying rapt attention like a high school freshman in their first class. Advena honestly half-expected him to pull out a pad and start taking notes. " _I guess the most important general rule is to get them used to the idea without them knowing why – preferably without them knowing at all. If your partner finds out why you're trying to convince them interspecies relationships are okay, they'll probably lock up and resist your efforts, so be subtle. Of course, dropping in a few flirtatious jokes or remarks worked for me, but it really depends on the human you're trying to woo. Following?_ "

Mozart nodded. " _Good. Doing things which are generally considered romantic by humans while playing the cultural ignorance card is an excellent way to get humans used to doing romantic things with you, and once the awkwardness wears off they'll usually start to enjoy doing these things with you so much they will be more accepting when you reveal there_ were _romantic intentions. A great example is sharing a bed – my personal excuse was that Xenomorphs need to share a nest with their Host in order to feel safe and secure. Just make something up, they'll usually buy it. Yes, it's a little manipulative, but they enjoy it so much it seems like a crime to let them deny themselves that comfort. Always be firm on your stances, but never push theirs – in the end, you're only making suggestions here and some humans will still refuse even after all your efforts, trying to force or pressure them into things will just ruin your relationship. And, of course, it goes without saying that you should try and weasel your way into their hobbies – if you become part of something they love, they'll start to love you by extension. That's the idea anyway. But of course, you already have some common ground or you wouldn't have rushed into a second Bond like an idiot. It would upset me to see you break off two Bonds in such a short span of time._ "

Mozart grimaced; that sounded like a threat. It seemed Advena had little patience for heartbreakers – luckily for him he had no intention of becoming one.

" _This one should go much better,_ " he promised. " _Thank you, Advena._ " Mozart paused as if to add something else to the sentiment, before apparently deciding otherwise and leaving it at that. It wasn't unusual for her kind to treat her this way; she'd earned herself a slightly unfavourable reputation amongst the local Hive after word of her… 'outburst' against Sal had gotten around. That didn't stop them from coming to her for advice, however, it just meant they treaded lightly around her, as if she was a bear trap that would snap shut on their ankles at any moment. In fact, it had been a few days since she'd last visited the Hive – she had no doubt doing so would culminate in her being jumped by a few curious Xenos who wanted to interrogate her about her Bond and what it was like to have sex with a human and what it felt like to body-swap with a human and how she and Jacob do this or that, or how does she handle so-and-so or do humans… the list went on and on. She had on several occasions tried to convince Sal to come along with her and help her out, but he refused on the grounds of staying loyal to Tyler, which was fair enough. What wasn't fair was that Tyler was adamant about avoiding Queen Asphid.

But whatever went down between those two while she wasn't looking was a mystery for another day. For now, she stretched out her body, relishing in the clicks and pops of kinks being worked out of her relaxed muscles, and strolled leisurely out of the small human colony.

It was an odd feeling for anyone new to stepping inside Hives. The short walk through the colony's bordering forest was serene and quiet save for the birds chirping and the distant rustlings of animals. It was quite sombre, cold, even a little lonely. But as soon as you passed that resin threshold into the caves beyond, you were hit by an immense feeling of welcoming and warmth. And no, not any of that metaphorical crap; your mind was literally filled with the emotions which idly leaked from the minds of dedicated workers, and the comforting presence of the Queen echoed all around. Not to mention the humidity and warmth was all too real, tickling Advena's skin pleasantly and unconsciously relaxing all of her muscles at the familiar, natural feeling. Her home, where she belonged. That's what her instincts told her anyway, but in her mind she knew that 'home' would always be a temporary word so long as the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had it out for them.

Advena nodded to the two human guards at the entrance, sitting at a small fold-out table playing cards, their rifles leaning against the nearest wall. They nodded back to her, before returning to their game. Jeica had deemed it necessary to create a guard detail here after some maniac with a Molotov had attacked the Hive, but it appeared to be an isolated incident seeing as the guards often had nothing to do but sit around and play silly games or – if one or both happened to be a telepath – chat to the Xenos who came through. She felt sympathy for them, but apparently it was better than dish duty. Before she could step over the threshold, however, one of the guards called out to her.

"Hey, wait, you're Advena, right?" She turned and faced the pair curiously. The male marine, who had called out to her, was twisted in his chair so as to look over his shoulder at her, while his female counterpart across from him egged him on with a cocky grin. Also, she snuck a quick peek at the male's cards while he was preoccupied with awaiting Advena's reaction, but that was less important to her. What she wanted to know was what these two were up to.

" _Uhh yeah, that's me,_ " she replied cautiously. Nothing. Right, they probably weren't telepaths. She nodded instead, this time garnering a reaction.

"See, told you," the female chided her partner in a low, playful voice. Advena approached, clicking her collar on as she did so, resigning herself to whatever they had planned for her.

"Okay, so like, a guy told a guy who told a guy who told her who told _me_ ," the male began, already losing Advena in the first sentence, "that you and Sergeant Harlor are fucking. True or false?"

"… False," Advena decided, causing both marines to jump a little in surprise. The female swore as she dropped the cards she had been meticulously replacing her comrade's hand with in her fright.

"Shit, you talk?" the guy asked, before catching himself, shaking his head and rephrasing. "Like, out loud? That's crazy."

"Well why did you _think_ I was wearing a collar?" Advena demanded, satisfied to hear the collar successfully emphasise the word 'think'. The AI was starting to catch on to her thought patterns.

"See, I put a bet on it being some kinky thing between you and Harlor," the female admitted, "and he said it was probably some kind of combat utility gear or something."

"Trust me, collars are the opposite of a turn-on for Xenos," Advena groaned. She wished her face was as capable of showing disdain as humans' were, but as it was, all she could do to show her distaste was peel her lips back a little, showing off her deadly teeth.

"But like, are you guys for real fucking?" the guy inquired, a little more sincerely than his first attempt. "I know most people turn their noses up at that sorta thing but I can't help but be curious… does it work? I mean, I know in theory it would work because where there's a hole, there's a way and all that, but what with the acid and the sharp edges and such, it must be pretty hard for a human and a Xeno to hook up."

"That's not even part of the bet; Wedfern just wants to fuck an alien," the female supplied with an eye roll and a shit-eating grin.

"I don't _want_ to fuck an alien," the male, Private Wedfern as he'd been revealed to be, protested. "But I don't _not_ want to fuck an alien either, y'know?"

"You're gross," his comrade scoffed. "You're saying you'd sleep with one of the big, slimy, eyeless balls of teeth and claws?"

"I'm right here," Advena reminded her in a deadpan monotone, for once not as a side-effect of her collar's AI trying to figure out her voice patterns.

"Uh, no offense," the marine added. Advena huffed irately, giving her a death glare.

"Gee, thanks."

"Well, _I_ heard Xenomorphs are way more loyal than humans are. Probably 'cause of the whole telepathy thing, but whatever," Wedfern continued unhindered, intent on defending his stance.

"Oh don't tell me you're still broken up about that chick on Nebraxis?"

"That was a _six year_ relationship! What kind of a person throws that away for an extra inch?"

"The same kind of person who spends six years getting their gambling debts paid off by some schmuck. She was a piece of shit from the beginning man, forget about her."

"Yeah, easy for you to say."

"Regardless," Advena cut in, raising a finger between them to request their silence and attention. "You two aren't really doing much here anyway, so why don't you come with me and I'll introduce you to some of the Un-Bonded Xenomorphs here." The two marines glanced at each other uneasily. True enough it was boring and there was virtually no chance of an attack happening, but that was beside the point; when you are given orders, you follow them, and Jeica had ordered them to stand guard.

"We shouldn't really…" Wedfern began, but Advena interrupted him, not dissuaded in the slightest. She was eager to have more interspecies couples around for a variety of reasons, not least of all to end the assault of questions she received every time she stepped in the Hive.

"You know what, why risk _disciplinary action_ – wow that was a pompous way of putting that – when I can just bring some here to you? I'll be right back." True to her word, Advena excused herself from the usual gaggle of curious aliens, picking out a few she knew well enough and asking them to come with her. The five or so Xenos she grabbed were more than happy to spare a few minutes to meet a potential Host, let alone one who was interested in being closer than simple co-workers. Advena imagined this poor sap might have Xenos crawling all over him when word got out.

She introduced them one by one to the two marines, briefly relaying the pleasantries they wanted exchanged, before her collar started buzzing insistently. Frowning, Advena excused herself and stepped away from the group, fiddling with the device. "What? What? _What?_ " she demanded of the infernal thing.

" _Apologies; incoming call from Tyler Doelle. Would you like me to hang up?_ " an unfamiliar, emotionless male voice asked her telepathically. Somehow, the voice picked up on her shock and confusion, quickly introducing himself. " _I am the VIGIL unit controlling your collar device. I am currently using said device as a relay to speak directly to you. Would you like to answer the call?_ "

"Uhh… yeah, uh, sure." Freaky. At least Tyler hadn't gone and Bonded her with a computer without her consent; if she understood correctly, turning the collar off or removing the AI from it would cut off its means of accessing her mind. Still though, it was unsettling how cold and emotionless the voice was. Where organics carried their thoughts and emotions through to their audience with every word spoken, synthetics lacked the emotions necessary.

" _'_ _Vee, can you hear me?_ " Tyler inquired tensely. Huh, long-range telepathy. This collar was full of surprises.

" _Yes._ "

" _Oh, good, good. I wasn't sure if the phone feature would work, but VIGIL probably mopped up any bugs I missed. We can talk more about the experiment later; right now Jeica's called us in for an important meeting. I'll let her explain once you get here; the usual place._ "

" _'_ _The usual place'?_ "

" _I uh, don't know how secure this call is. Could be broadcasting to everyone around you for all I know. Anyway, come quick, seeya._ "

" _Call ended,_ " VIGIL informed her helpfully. " _Resuming normal function._ "

"Er, I've gotta scoot. Uh, maybe you guys can find a human telepath to help you out or something…? Sorry."

" _Come on 'Vee! This is my chance! Please, just stay a little longer and introduce me?_ " one of the Xenomorphs begged, but all Advena could do was grimace sympathetically and apologise again, before scampering off in the direction of the bunker complex. No doubt the 'usual place' Tyler referred to was the small briefing room within the underground shelter where Jeica always called them for important meetings.

She arrived shortly afterwards, slightly out of breath as the distance was a hefty one – even for a Xenomorph and especially for a non-Runner who had just sprinted the whole way over. Nevertheless, all it would take is a few moments of curling up on one of the uncomfortable seats and she'd be ready to do it again.

"This better be important," Advena complained, "I just cock-blocked like five Xenomorphs to get here."

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand how that situation arose," Jake confessed, "but I'm sure it can wait. You have another mission for us Lieutenant?"

"Kind of. Tyler and I have just contacted the Russians and called a meeting. Our intention is to, uh, basically just beg them to give us more ships and supplies. Weapons we can steal or manufacture, vehicles are a little trickier, so I'm hoping our allies will lend us a hand here. Of course, we don't have much to offer in return, so a lot of ass-kissing is in order and I need a bunch of people who can swallow their pride and make nice. So far I've got you guys and a few others I can trust."

"Is this the best idea?" Jake asked cautiously. "I mean, the Russians tolerate us at best, and you _know_ how the public will react if they find out we're being supplied by Russia."

"Tyler and I have arranged some… incentive if the Russians won't help us out of the goodness of their hearts," Sal supplied. With a tinge of jealously, Advena noted how fluently his collar operated. She supposed he _had_ been wearing his for longer, but still, it so effortlessly conveyed his emotions through subtle tone shifts and he spoke so naturally, as if he'd been talking aloud his entire life. She hoped it wouldn't take too long for her to get to that point.

"As for the public, there's a fair amount of people who are rooting for the Russians to clear out the Corporation for good, and unsurprisingly there are people who are angry they haven't swept in and saved us already," Tyler noted with amusement. "But, undoubtedly, we'd lose some supporters if there's even a doubt about Russia's intentions in helping us – the Wey-Yu could easily twist this into some sly attempt at an invasion. So for now, it's best we don't let word of their involvement get out, and we'll make this clear to our good friends during the meeting."

"You support this?" Jake demanded sceptically. Grovelling and begging didn't fit the scientist's usual modus operandi.

"The Russians exiled their entire Weyland-Yutani branch. Ignoring the fact that their manpower and supplies drastically increase our chances of success, they've won their war, which officially makes them one-hundred-percent more successful in winning wars with the Wey-Yu than us. I don't just support mooching off their supplies, Sergeant; if I had it my way, we would have battalions of Russian soldiers ready to deploy at the push of a button."

"So… to Russia then?" Jake conceded.

"To Russia," Jeica confirmed with a firm nod. "Be ready, eleven-hundred hours tomorrow. Pack for a few days."

"Yes ma'am."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

 **A/N: Pretty much just smut from here on out folks; I'm sure you're all familiar with the drill by now: shield your eyes or suffer the esoteric porn.**

"So, what did you… _end up doing today?_ " Advena inquired, pausing to take off her collar mid-sentence. She gingerly placed it on the bedside table – they were back to sleeping in the bedroom seeing as Advena had since removed the resin – with help, of course. She figured she had an entire Hive to wander around in, or even sleep in, should she desire to feel its presence again.

"With all the chaos since the uprising on Reveles and all, I realised it's been a long time since I've just sat down with some fellow marines and hung out. My old squad used to get together every Friday night for drinks in the mess hall but… well, I haven't had a squad for a while now. Haven't really needed one with you around, but I kinda miss the whole 'tight-knit family' feeling you get from having a team. How about you? Enjoy your history lessons with Tyler?"

" _Oh yes, today was very educational. Not just for me, but I also taught Mozart a few things about human dating._ " Jake was surprised she hadn't turned him away out of spite, but didn't show it seeing as that seemed a little insulting. " _And I learned that there may be a few more cases of interspecies degeneracy than we initially thought._ "

"Oh? It _would_ be nice to talk to another straight guy in a relationship with a Xeno. Tyler's great and all, but our experiences aren't exactly translatable. Like, I can't ask him if he's found some amazing way to make Xeno girls feel extra special in bed seeing as he's the girl in his relationship… as he so often points out in excruciating, unsolicited detail." Jake pouted towards the end of his monologue, and Advena couldn't help but giggle lightly at how easily Tyler could disturb his friends.

" _Jacob, if you want to know how to make me feel extra special in bed, you could just ask. After all, today has been so educational for everyone else, maybe I should teach_ you _something new as well._ " Jake couldn't help but smirk at her antics, already seeing what she was slyly edging them into. He didn't even need the telepathic link to see the gears turning in her head – she was planning something but, as per usual when it came to her, it was up to him to play ball until he found out what her little scheme was.

"And how do you plan on doing that? You got a bunch of diagrams stashed away somewhere?" he asked with feigned innocence. He allowed himself a small, victorious grin, relishing in the feeling of messing with her. But she didn't falter; her devious smile was much wider than his. That was usually a sign that he had no idea what he was in for, and that she was going to enjoy every moment of his shock and surprise. "You little sadist," he muttered under his breath, not really caring whether she heard him or not.

" _Of course not, Jacob. You know I prefer a more…_ hands on _approach,_ " she told him – ignoring his muttered remark – as she softly pushed him down onto their bed to emphasise her words. She intertwined her fingers with his, gently pinning his hands to the soft sheets below. " _I'm going to_ show _you. Now, just relax, let me take over, and you'll soon have a night you'll_ never _forget._ " She began to slowly stroke his sides gently, placing a soft kiss on his lips as she did so. " _Relax…_ " she insisted. Jake humoured her, allowing his muscles to go limp so she could have full control, letting his eyes drift shut to better enjoy the light smooching she was giving him.

For a brief moment, he felt a sense of weightlessness, as if floating through the void of space, before a rush of tingles ran down his spine, returning feeling to all his limbs. He felt… powerful, a small itch on his tailbone, and his eyes felt unusual, unable to shut as the colours swam into focus. He knew these feelings, but he'd never experienced them so slowly or sensually before. Usually a body-swap was an overwhelming rush of noise and sensation, but now…

The relaxation of his body had apparently carried over into his new one, as Advena had no trouble flipping him onto his back so she was on top once more, but this time with his body. Then it hit him.

" _Wait,_ " he protested, " _You aren't thinking of –_ "

" _Shh…_ " she soothed him, thankfully not having the audacity to use his own voice. " _Trust me; this will be amazing. Here, close your eyes…_ "

Admittedly, her soothing tone quelled his anxiety, and he felt his powerful heartbeat slow back down to a steady, relaxed rhythm. Trusting her had always worked out for him in the past, so he put his doubts aside and let her show him how to 'close' his eyes. It wasn't so much closing as losing focus, really. Advena guided him into lapsing his attention so that the images blurred and shifted away, until he was left not with the inky blackness he was used to, but a comforting distorted array of colours in the back of his mind, like looking at a softly-illuminated neon billboard out the corner of his eye.

Sensing he was ready, Advena slowly leaned in and began placing small kisses along his neck, sending tingles of confused excitement rolling down his spine. It had been a long, long time since he'd felt a human touch him this way, even if it was his body. He found himself incredibly glad he had his eyes 'closed'; he didn't know if he'd be able to handle this if he had to stare at his own body. " _I hope you're paying attention at least to some extent,_ " Advena giggled as she ran a hand along the side of Jake's domed head. " _You're supposed to be learning something after all._ " Wanting to disturb his position as little as possible, but also not wanting to expend the effort of talking, Jake drew a compromise at giving her a small nod. She took this as a sign to continue and placed a hand under his chin, pulling his lips up to meet hers so they could kiss.

Jake shuddered at the odd, but not unpleasant sensation of her tongue rubbing against his. It seemed the Xenomorphs' inner maw was quite sensitive. He felt his body heating up a little at the contact, and he began to wrap his arms around Advena, only for them to be swatted away disapprovingly. " _Oh no you don't; I don't trust your ability to keep my immense strength and sharp edges in check. I'm not gonna let you accidentally kill yourself with my claws._ " She paused for a moment, pulling away from the kiss to think, before smirking and peeling off her clothes. She slid the belt off her pants and fussed over Jake's hands, eventually getting them in the right position so that she could secure them to the bed frame with the belt, much to Jake's surprise. " _Ooh, I look cute like that,_ " she teased, then moved on to use her pants themselves to tie his tail onto of the bed's legs. Now all he'd be able to do is kick his legs, which wouldn't be able to hurt her – or him rather – so long as she was between them.

Jake's heart rate increased slightly at the new feeling of powerlessness, though really all he had to do was tug too hard and either the belt would snap or the bed frame would. In fact, if he closed his fist in just the right way, his claws would probably shear right through his flimsy bonds. That was enough to keep him under control, so he settled back down and waited with baited breath for whatever his girlfriend had planned. Advena resumed her motions from about where she had left off, placing kisses on Jake's jaw and neck while her hands traced slow patterns onto his thighs lightly. He jerked slightly when she gripped the base of his tail, giving it a good massage. Like his tongue, that part of his body was sensitive; the sensation wasn't uncomfortable but it didn't garner any sexual pleasure either, it just got him riled up and panting slightly.

Jake's heart was pounding in his chest again, though this time from excitement and anticipation as Advena dived in for another kiss. A throaty, stuttering half-growl half-moan escaped Jake's borrowed body now that he was feeling his role a little more, and he even became emboldened enough to start tilting his head for a better angle and pushing forward to deepen their kiss. So engrossed was he, that he barely noticed the gentle finger tracing its way down his belly to his groin, where it stopped to trace circles around his pubic mound.

Then her fingers found Jake's clit, touching it ever so gently, brushing across it gingerly, tracing slow, light spirals atop it. Jake hissed in surprise and pleasure, prompting Advena to release him from their passionate kiss as his legs instinctively tensed and pressed into the bed below them forcefully. It felt so… different to what he was used to. The little nub which Advena caressed with such love was sensitive – so sensitive – and made his body shake, tense, then relax. He squirmed in his bondage, breaths becoming shorter as the buzz of pleasure began to tingle within his loins.

Then just as suddenly as she had started, Advena stopped, her two fingers gliding over the pleasurable nub one last time, before splitting and tracing down one side of his vaginal lips each. The pleasure bubbled down as she simply caressed the lips for a moment, and Jake – much to his embarrassment – let out a quiet, alien whine. He could tell Advena was enjoying the hell out of this, and he almost regretted all the times he'd teased her in the bedroom. Almost.

Finally deciding to show mercy, Advena pressed her fingers together again and gently parted his lower lips, pushing forward slowly and watching his face while she did so. Jake could feel every millimetre of the intrusion as it wriggled its way inside him, pushing his vaginal walls apart and filling him with the tiny volume. He tensed his abdominal muscles, feeling his wet, fleshy walls grip Advena's fingers and tug on them needily, prompting his girlfriend to grin and push further in. With the renewed tightness due to his uncontrollable clenching, Jake could feel her fingers rubbing against his insides, wriggling from side to side until she had worked her way in to the knuckles. She paused for a moment to give him a breather; he was panting and his body was trying to wag its tail, but failed miserably due to the pants which had it secured.

Just when Jake was growing accustomed to the feeling, he felt Advena curl her fingers and press up into the underside of his crotch. After a bit of stroking up and down, she hit her mark. Jake bucked his hips in surprise when he felt her fingertips being applied to a _very_ sensitive spot inside him – the so-called G-spot. The pressure being exerted on his G-spot was an intense feeling; like compressed pleasure which tensed up his whole spine, making his back arch and his body twist when Advena began pulling her fingers out and thrusting back it, applying steady on-off pressure onto his new favourite spot. Even as she pushed in and out with her fingers, she curled them, brushing and stroking his walls and pleasurable spots in a relentless synergy of different pleasures for different movements, each building upon one another, forcing high-pitched squeaks and moans from his lips. His toes curled tightly and his feet kicked the air as his only way of releasing all of the energy which was being built and pent up by the pleasure of Advena's stroking. Jake began to get lost in it all, only remembering who he was or that there was a world outside of his body when Advena rammed her fingers in all the way to the knuckles one last time and leaving them there for a moment, allowing the bliss to slowly ebb away.

Jake groaned, thinking he was being teased again, but Advena had something much more fun in mind. She resumed her stroking of his G-spot, but this time much more slowly and sensually. Jake almost began begging, but before he could string together a coherent sentence in his clouded mind, he felt a warm, wet appendage brush against his sensitive clit, making him writhe in his bonds once more. Advena ran her tongue up and down his occupied folds a few times, before returning to that little nub, swirling her tongue around and over it gently, reducing poor Jake to a panting, squirming, moaning mess. And that was before she took the pleasurable little organ in her mouth and sucked on it softly.

Jake almost blacked out when her hot breath enveloped his pleasure-centre and squeezed his nub with her sucking motions. He moaned, long and stuttering, bucking his hips as an automatic response. Unfortunately, his male instincts did him no good here and only served to dislodge Advena's mouth, leaving his crotch in the cool air once more.

Advena withdrew her fingers and placed her hands on her hips, admiring her handiwork for a moment with a satisfied smirk. She knew full well, of course, that Jake was going to return the favour some day and show her all the overwhelming sensations of a male body, but for now, she was in control and she _loved_ how much of a pleasured wreck he was. His legs twitched in the air and a moan seemed to escape his lips with every breath, shivers rolling down his spine as he slowly shook off the waves of pleasure. Finally, he raised his head to stare at her pleadingly, so vulnerable and exposed-looking as he was, tied down to a bed. His mind was unable to register he was looking at his own body anymore; he was blinded by a hazy _need_ to have an orgasm. His whole body was flushed with hormones and needy.

And Advena finally decided to give him what he wanted. She lifted her face away from his crotch, shuffling up until she was kneeling between his thighs with her rock-hard cock in hand. She hadn't exactly been neglecting it either; the whole time she had been fingering her boyfriend, she had stroked and rubbed at her new reproductive organ, unable to resist the temptation as the bead of pre-cum on her tip would tell.

As one final tease – as well as a bit of self-preparation for the feelings to come – she rubbed the head of her dick up and down his pussy lips, relishing in the feeling of the smooth, moist folds brushing against her sensitive tip. Finally, she pressed forward, the fleshy walls of Jake's vagina parting to accept her member. The fingers were nothing compared to this. Immediately, he was hit by the feeling of _fullness_ which crept up inside him, more than twice as deep as her fingers would ever hope to reach. Her tip brushed against his G-spot, making him tense up and – without even knowing what he was doing – fold his legs around Advena's lower back, shoving her in forcefully the rest of the way.

The feeling of her balls lightly slapping against his flesh was drowned out by the explosion of sensations coming from down below. The cock inside him was _pushing_ out against his folds, putting intense and constant pressure on his G-spot, which made him groan and squirm, his legs tensing and relaxing to coerce Advena in and out in motion so subtle they could only be called micro-movements. Warmth spread through his entire body like lightning and he arched his back, feeling like he should be sweating but being unable to. It was a pleasantly bothering sensation that prevented him from keeping still, his limbs and inner folds tensing and twitching in unison. " _Nnf,_ " Advena grunted, trying to maintain her composure against the best efforts of Jake's squeezing, pulsing and oh-so-pleasurably hot pussy. " _You gotta loosen up your legs a bit._ "

Jake used his last ounce of conscious thought to obey, letting his legs go limp and return to the bed, allowing Advena to nudge them aside and give herself some room to begin. " _Oh yesss… I'm gonna start moving now,_ " she warned him. Jake merely whimpered in response, long since having given up coherence.

Advena dragged her length out of him slowly, leaving him with an oddly-empty feeling as his vaginal walls closed back together, before spreading apart as she slid forward again, sending a spike of pleasure into his abdomen as she _grinded_ against his G-spot, compressing it firmly with her warm, hard girth. " _So weird… but so hot…_ " Advena managed to get out when she paused to pant. She could feel the muscle in her loins tensing with every long, drawn-out stroke. But she knew that just wouldn't do for Jacob; she had been in his position many times before, after all. As soon as his breathing had evened out, she slid her hands up from his thighs, all the way over his chest and wrapped her arms around his midriff, pressing their bodies together tightly. Then, began the fun part.

She drew her hips back and, without warning, _slammed_ back in, all the way to the hilt in less than a second. Jake was stunned into silence for a moment, only a huff of breath leaving his lips in surprise, but Advena changed that when she pulled back out and rammed in again, just as hard as the first time.

"Skrrreek?" Jake cried, arching his back as the blow resounded through his body, making his heart flutter wildly and the warmth flood throughout his body once more. The cute noises he made spurred her on, using her leverage to hammer into him harder and faster. His G-spot was pounded and rubbed roughly, the animalistic pleasure of it overwhelming him until his limp limbs could only twitch and flex with the sway of his body, sliding up and down the sheets an inch with every thrust and pull. Advena closed her eyes and gave it everything she had, squeezing Jake's torso as if trying to crush the life out of his nigh-indestructible body and absolutely pounding his pussy with all her strength. She couldn't help it; the pleasure in her shaft only built up higher and higher with every movement, and she craved it. She craved that peak of absolute pleasure, at this point almost forgetting she had a partner in the act.

Not that Jake was complaining. He was slack jawed by now, drooling slightly onto the blankets as his face was rubbed up and down the soft fabric by his body's second-hand movements. There was an intense pressure being built up inside of him, separate from the pressure which was squishing his G-spot and forcing the huffs, squeaks and moans from his lips. This second pressure was building up sharply, squeezing his muscles and carrying the rising warmth through his veins. It started in his groin, making his pussy walls twitch and squeeze the cock which was hammering away inside him, and spread up through his stomach and down to his thighs, making him kick his legs in an unconscious effort to stop them from wrapping around Advena again.

He wanted to grab Advena, to squeeze her and pull her tighter to him than she could ever hope to survive, but luckily his weak limbs couldn't pull free of their bonds, so he was reduced to simply writhing in place and tossing his head from side to side, panting and moaning. Advena ceased these movements by grabbing him by the back of his domed head and pulling him into another lustful, passionate kiss. She sucked on his inner maw, rubbing it with her tongue and gently nibbling on it. The sensitive nerves added to the cacophony of pleasurable sensations which were overtaking him, sending a shiver rolling down his spine which clashed against the shudders already wracking him.

It was too much.

Advena jerked away when his mouth opened and unleashed a howl of pleasure. His legs, unable to keep away any longer, pressed up against her rear and forced her to slam into him, burying her shaft deep inside. Undeterred, Advena kept jerking her hips for the extra bit of friction, even as Jake's vaginal walls clamped down on her as if intent on strangling the seed out of her dick. His pussy trembled, twitched and spasmed uncontrollably, releasing pulses of fluid in a wave of fiery hot orgasm. His back arched and his hips jerked at the unrelenting pleasure of Advena's last thrusts, but the tight grip which rippled along her length and milked her was too much.

With a half-whine half-moan which was uncharacteristically high of Jake's body, Advena came, bucking into that tight, clenching hole as she painted it white, her teeth gritted and chest heaving from the effort. This, of course, renewed Jake's bliss; the sheer warmth of the hot cum spraying his insides, pelting his sensitive flesh, the warmth surged up before it could even begin dying down, making him tense and buck all over again, screeching softly and squeezing tightly on the invading member. Advena grunted and collapsed atop him, letting the waves of dizziness, warmness, satisfaction and ebbing pleasure wash over her like waves. Jake, for his part, had gone completely limp, barely hanging onto consciousness. His vagina still twitched and pulsed even as he felt Advena's erection fade and soften inside him, as the tingling warmth remained.

Totally mentally and emotionally spent, they cuddled like that for a good couple of hours, only stirring to untie Jacob so they could wrap up in each others' arms.

 **A/N: Well that's probably the kinkiest scene I've ever written. Hope y'all enjoy it anyway.**


	13. The Motherland

**A/N: Hey, I'm not dead. Here's a chapter for you.**

The two guards glanced at one another curiously, then turned to the large bulkhead door which was emitting a quiet, suspicious hissing noise. They levelled their rifles and approached, ready to take up defensive positions. Before they had the chance, however, the immense sheet of metal buckled inwards and flew off its hinges with a tremendous explosion, crushing both of them beneath.

Through the thick smoke and lingering flames, Jake swooped into the room, his visor a slit of blue amongst the haze and his Pulse Rifle a blaze of glory as he gunned his way inside the building, taking out two more guards who had been rushing over from nearby. A fifth guard ducked behind cover, pulling the pin on their grenade and preparing to toss it, but was stopped by a large, black hand grasping his wrist and snapping it, forcing the guard to drop their grenade to the floor. Advena rolled away from them, coming up at Jake's side while the grenade exploded at the guard's feet.

The two lovers nodded to one another and continued deeper inside.

" _Man I love that whole 'action hero' pose you do,_ " Advena commented.

"That's just a standard room-sweeping position!" Jake hissed back. "Also, what did we say about flirting on the job?"

" _If guns are in our hands our dicks are in our pants,_ " Advena recited grouchily. She would have rolled her boyfriend's eyes if she was just a tad less mature, but refrained from doing so due to the danger it posed.

"Heads up; footsteps." Jake quickly ducked behind one of the ballistic covers which had been set up to defend against them while Advena hopped up onto the roof, pressing herself into the pipes and grating.

Two small handheld ballistic shields peeked out from around the corner farther down the corridor, the tinted bulletproof glass embedded into its front offering no clues as to how many enemies were crouched behind it. Given some help, Advena could resolve that. Jake propped his rifle up over the lip of his cover, exposing as little of his body as possible and blind-firing at the enemy shields. Now that they were distracted, Advena was clear to slowly crawl her way along the ceiling until she was dangling above them. Four of them; two holding the shields, two leaning over their shoulders with Pulse Rifles at the ready.

" _Go,_ " Advena commanded and, without hesitation, Jake vaulted over his cover, rifle stock tucked into his armpit as he ran, firing off bursts of pot-shots. Simultaneously, Advena dropped down upon the four vulnerable figures, wrapping her tail around one rifleman's neck while she bashed the second one's head into the corridor wall. The two shield bearers panicked and turned, firing their sidearms wildly in a last-ditch attempt to fend the alien off – an action which proved to be useless as they were hammered from behind by Jake's Pulse Rifle, their bodies and, ironically enough, their ballistic shields protecting Advena from his stray bullets. The rifleman wrapped up in her tail got tossed into the wall with their comrade, their broken body flopping to the ground.

They spared a moment to allow Jake to reload his gun, tucking his half-spent magazine into his vest, before moving on down the corridor from where the soldiers had come, pausing at an intersection. Jake quickly held out his hand to stop Advena from moving on.

"We should go left," he advised. "We can carve out an alternate route there and catch them off-guard." Advena nodded and they both went left, coming out into a vast hangar-like area with an enormous pool which split the room down the middle, housing a single submarine, its hatch open and ready to evacuate their target. On the other side of the sizable stretch of water, two dozen soldiers took up defensive positions watching the bulkhead door, waiting for the intruders to arrive through the supposed only entrance into the deeper sections of their base. Advena dropped to the floor and rolled onto her back at a seemingly arbitrary point on their side of the moonpool, sticking her limbs into the air in preparation for her partner, who sprinted towards her and leaped over her body at the last moment. She thrust her legs up into the soles of his boots, propelling him high into the air. He crashed onto the catwalks which ran above in a damage-controlling roll while the Xenomorph herself quietly slipped into the water.

Luckily for the marines, they were unable to be heard over the thrumming of machinery and grating alarms which filled the room. They hadn't exactly made their entrance subtle.

While Advena's dark form remained undetected in the depths of the searchlight-probed water, Jake picked himself up into a low crouch, slowly creeping up behind the solitary sniper on the catwalks. They were scanning the area below, where a handful more enemies were filtering in alongside those watching the door and preparing to escort the target into the escape vehicle.

The sergeant lunged, grabbing the lone guard's rifle by the barrel and stock, before jerking backwards, ramming the bulk of the weapon into the soldier's throat. They struggled, the guard squirming to push the weapon away until Jake spotted movement below. Advena burst out of the water, tail sweeping two unsuspecting enemies into the freezing cold moonpool. She twirled, snatching up her Pulse Rifle from where it had been dangling from its strap, using it to lay into her enemies. Jake adjusted his grip, tucking his enemy's throat into the crook of his elbow while he pulled their weapon up to his eye. He took a shot, downing one of the soldiers converging on his partner, before snapping onto the next and firing again. A third casing ejected from his commandeered weapon before things became too hectic to aim reliably; Advena was charging right into the thick of her enemies, slashing at them with her unoccupied hand and her tail while still unloading rounds from her rifle.

Jake rammed the rifle back into his opponent's throat and heaved back, flipping the soldier over his head, sending them slamming into the ground behind him. Without missing a beat, the jabbed the barrel of his stolen weapon into their head and pulled the trigger, then leapt over the railing to join the fray, slapping his rappelling line onto the metal guard rail even as he sailed over it.

Advena was taking hits, this much Jake could tell even without the Bond which telepathically linked him to her. He couldn't exactly do much to help this, especially not without taking hits himself. Their opponents' backs, however, were exposed. He landed behind them, the noise enough to turn one soldier around. Jake rammed the butt of his weapon into their face, causing them to stumble. They were struck again, this time by the barrel, when Jake brought the weapon back around and fired from the hip, landing a shot in their chest and sending them to the floor.

Advena, for her part, slashed one enemy across the chest twice with her tail, then planted her foot into their chest and stomped them into the ground, all one-hundred-and-sixty kilograms of her weight driving the blow with enough force to shatter bone. She held out her hand all the while, prompting Jake to toss his Pulse Rifle over and draw his pistol, just in time to unload three shots into the second enemy to notice they were being flanked.

Handling the recoil of a fully-automatic assault rifle in either hand was apparently no issue for the immense strength of a Xenomorph, a fact Advena proved with ease as she swept the room with her dual weapons. Jake had to throw himself to the floor to avoid getting shot, but without a telepathic warning, their enemies lacked the time for such a manoeuvre, resulting in them getting torn down, dead, dying or immobilised. "You got hit a few times," Jake commented once they were the only two left standing.

" _If I had my armour with me, it wouldn't matter,_ " Advena shot back, tossing him his weapon. " _Be a dear and hand me another mag, would you?_ " Jake holstered his pistol and did as he was told, watching his girlfriend only slightly struggle to manipulate the comparatively-tiny reload mechanism with her large hands. Once done, she shouldered her rifle and pointed at the corridor which led into the control sector. " _Tight corridors ahead; I doubt they'll have good spacing._ " Jake smirked and slipped a hand grenade from his combat vest, before tossing it over to her.

They entered the tight quarters of the corridors, following the signage to the command centre in eerie silence now that the alarms had cut out. Most likely the enemy had retreated to a defendable chokepoint near the target's position. Advena, having taken the lead, suddenly recoiled from a bend in the endless corridors, jumping back to safety as projectiles continued to whizz by and impact the wall, accompanied by the roaring of gunfire in a confined space. " _Ow,_ " she complained, before pulling the pin on her grenade, releasing the trigger and counting. She whipped around the corner and hurled the small object, a mighty _boom_ echoing down the corridor seconds later.

Advena swept in, leading the way with her Pulse Rifle, leaving Jake to fall in behind her, placing a hand on her scarred back and peaking out from behind her bulk with his pistol at the ready. The door at the end of the corridor had been blown in by the explosion as a side effect of tossing four guards against the walls, out of action. Advena gave Jake a quick countdown from three, then dived in, twisting gracefully through the air to scan the room with her altered perception of time which came with their adrenaline Bond. Jake saw the final two guards on either side of the door through her, firing off round after round at her as she sped through the air. He ducked inside now that they were distracted, popping three rounds off at the one to his left and emptying the rest of his magazine into the one on the right.

The sergeant glanced forward just in time to see Advena's bladed tail pierce the chest of their enemies' leader, eliminating their target.

A short, grating buzz echoed around them, and the set began folding away neatly as if being swept away by a tornado which surrounded the two soldiers. Jake craned his neck up at the reinforced window high above, where three silhouetted figures had been watching their performance from.

" _Can we go have a shower real quick? I wanna wash off this machine goop,_ " Advena complained while flicking her wrist disdainfully, splattering thick globs of white 'synthetic blood' across the floor. Jake chuckled and rubbed her dome affectionately. Only cringing slightly at the _thump_ of the training drone's body sliding off her tail blade and onto the floor.

"Absolutely. I think the others will be fine handling our esteemed hosts on their own." Together, they strolled towards the now brightly-lit exit sign under the watchful gaze of the silhouetted figures. These figures were, in fact, General Lisov and Colonel General Perekhvatkin of the RKM – the Russian Space Marines. When the American soldiers left the training arena and the door slid shut behind them, they turned to the other occupants of the cosy control room.

"Very impressive, Lieutenant," Lisov congratulated his guest. Jeica, seated at the large, oval table which dominated the centre of the room, nodded her gratitude politely. "Now I'm sure you wish to tell me the reason why you've shown me this, correct?" Jeica glanced to Tyler, who was seated two chairs away from her, with Sal to his side farthest from her. The Russians had initially had to try very hard to hide their nervousness at having a Xenomorph in the room with them, but had quickly gained confidence once he started speaking through his collar. Now, the two gay men were waiting in respectful silence for Jeica and the Russians to do business, anticipating the time where they would be needed.

"Soon, we plan to move in on the Weyland-Yutani's American branch – and the Russian branch which has taken refuge on our nation's soil," Jeica reminded them. "But we find ourselves lacking resources. We need ships, armoured vehicles, artillery, anything you can afford to give us. We have manpower on our side, General, but we lack the equipment. We need your help to get rid of the Wey-Yu once and for all, at least on this side of the galaxy, anyway."

"Okay."

"I understand that we – wait. 'Okay'?"

"Okay," General Lisov repeated with a hint of a shrug. Jeica glanced at Tyler, who was smirking in amusement, but was just as confused and surprised as she. "We will help you. Know this, however: the situation in Russia is not so good as it seems. The Weyland-Yutani Cooperation has been carrying out small sabotage missions, trying to topple our power and shift their people back into control. We have been fighting a losing battle against their attempts; the other Generals are beginning to grow suspicious of one another, it is hard to know who is to trust. We cannot stop them without crossing into your territory, and we cannot do this without causing a war. If you believe you can stop them, we will be happy to help in any way we can. If you fail, we will have no choice but to invade America, for the sake of both our nations. That will be very messy, with many unneeded deaths on both sides, so best avoided if possible. We can discuss specifics later, but first I want to know who those two are."

Lisov pointed at Jeica's choice of company, and she grimaced slightly. It almost seemed rude now to even imply she had thought they would need convincing or bribing. "They are clearly not military advisors. Well, the alien is not so easy to tell, but the human is most definitely a civilian." Jeica began choosing her next words carefully, but Tyler had her back without missing a beat.

"Well General, we wouldn't be so rude as to come all this way making demands with nothing to show for it. Our little presentation with Sergeants Harlor and Advena did, in fact, have a point to it. Along with the supplies you've so graciously offered us, we intend to take five of your best, most tolerant and preferably American-speaking soldiers back to our colony to become part of a little contingency project. If the Resistance fails then, as you say, the responsibility falls to you. If that is to be the case, then you're going to want some Xenomorphs on your side, and we intend to get you started on that. Once we've got everyone settled, Bonded, healed and comfortable, we'll send them right back to you so you may train them as you please."

"Six," Lisov counter-offered. "We send six, and one stays with you on your colony."

"Done deal. I will, of course, have to approve them first, to make sure they're compatible with the Xenomorph volunteers."

"Perekhvatkin," Lisov prompted. His right-hand man nodded and motioned for Tyler to follow. He was already compiling a small list in his head of outstanding marines under his command. Sal followed along behind, leaving just Lisov and Jeica left in the room together. "So, this _is_ more than mooching after all. Lieutenant, it is almost as if you want an alliance." Jeica chuckled lightly as she slid off her chair, stretching idly as she stared out the observation window into the arena beyond. Janitorial staff had already made their way inside, mopping up the floors and retrieving the busted droids for recycling.

"It would be nice, wouldn't it?" Jeica wondered aloud. She couldn't help but bark out a bitter laugh. "Honestly, it's probably going to be a lot harder to make friends with other humans than it was to get the Xenos on our side. The aliens were just misunderstood, but us… there's no misunderstanding between us. Just generations of hate and distrust."

"My father used to say something, I'll try to translate as best I can: 'There's no better way to turn someone to your side than to turn them against someone else.'"

"An enemy of my enemy is my friend," Jeica noted with amusement. "Your father was a wise man."

"Considering he died pushing the _Korporatsia's_ agenda, I disagree. But I always did appreciate that one piece of advice; it has helped me many times over the years, and perhaps it will help us both now. You have my ships, my guns and my men at your disposal, Lieutenant. You need only call." Jeica smiled softly and offered her hand, which General Lisov accepted by clapping his wrist to her palm and vice-versa. They shook firmly and released, allowing them to wander out of the room together, ready to begin discussing the supplies in question. Behind them, the observation room's lights dimmed automatically, and the training area fell silent.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"Of course it's not gay; a man and a woman having sex, no matter whose body they're in, is _not_ gay."

"You had a dick in you. That's gay dude."

"But I was in a girl's body at the time, so it's still straight. And besides, it was a girl's dick. There's no way it was gay."

"You liked the feeling of having a dick inside you, that one-hundred-percent makes you gay."

"Stop trying to convert me; I'm not gay," Jake snapped, before quickly slapping Tyler's arm to get his attention and sitting up straight. The sergeant succeeded in bringing the young scientist's attention to the newcomer, however Tyler continued slouching, as per usual not paying any heed to Jeica's entry into the room.

"Tyler, how are the new recruits looking?"

"Well, they don't want to firebomb every Xeno Hive they see. Beyond that, I only really have the Russians' word on their suitability. I guess we can always swap them out if it comes to that. How are the ships?"

"Our boys have almost finished converting the critical systems to a language we can read," she reported. "I also updated the Resistance Generals on our current position. They're a bit grouchy about the whole thing – mostly because we didn't ask permission or some bullshit – but they can't deny that finally being able to have a combat-ready presence in space for the first time in seventy years is a huge advantage. Not to mention we've got more than a handful more dropships, cargo loaders, tanks and armoured vehicles on our side now. Speaking of which… they're better than nothing, don't get me wrong, but they're worryingly out-of-date. I don't think one of their _Nosorog_ tanks could take more than single a hit from an American missile."

"So we're still looking to steal any ground vehicles we can get our hands on then? Hopefully their fighters are a bit more up to scratch." Jeica shook her head grimly.

"Faster, but weaker. Their guns don't even have mag-accelerators on them." Tyler grimaced.

"Oof, that _is_ bad. Though… a hybrid wouldn't be far out of the question at all…" he mused, quickly motioning to his alien partner, who had been lounging around nearby, half-listening to his boyfriend's conversation. "Remind me to pull apart a couple of ships when we get back home. I trust that won't be a problem with you, Lieutenant?"

"If you can solve this headache, be my guest. You're not having any more than four until you give me a functioning model, though."

"I'll only need two, but your confidence in me is appreciated regardless."

" _So, does this mean we have an alliance on our hands?_ " Advena inquired curiously. " _It would be nice to have more friends, especially ones who can keep a few Hives out of Weyland-Yutani reach if we fail._ " Jeica smiled at the alien and nodded thoughtfully.

"You know what, 'Vee? I think we do. And with every little connection we make, with every bit of help we enlist, our chances of kicking some corporate ass increase dramatically. Even our pessimistic friend over here has to admit that." She motioned to Tyler, giving him a sly smirk which challenged him to disagree. The gay man just shrugged and raised an eyebrow.

"An idiot with a rifle has a better chance at taking down a tank than an idiot with nothing but his fists. Our odds have improved, but don't fool yourself into thinking they're _good_. With that said, the Saints of America have made more alliances in the past year than Free Humanity has made in three centuries. But also bear in mind that number totals at two, so, you know… celebrations may be in order, but don't get cocky."

"'Celebrations may be in order'," Jeica repeated with a laugh. "You heard it from Tyler first: it's time to get drunk and go wild." Tyler sighed and shook his head at her antics, which only made the lieutenant all the more happy with herself. "In all seriousness, it isn't a bad idea actually. A celebration of some kind would help boost morale; let people know that we're doing things worth celebrating about, y'know? Might even convince a few of Abraham's colonists to take the paranoia sticks out of their asses and loosen up a little."

"Don't start picking out your decorations; we haven't made it back to Altin yet," Tyler reminded her. "But, admittedly, it would help paint this whole alliance in a more positive light; I'm sure there are going to be more than a few of our people that are uncomfortable with the idea of enlisting help from Russians. On the topic of irritating and irrational people, has administration managed to screen all the marines yet?"

"Yeah, we've gone through each and every one and built a profile of who can and can't be trusted. Major Reeves is making arrangements for the Wey-Yu loyalists back on Altin as we speak."

"'Arrangements'?" Tyler deadpanned.

"Oh don't look at me like that; we're not going to firing squad them or anything like that. After some deliberating, I realised we could use Abraham's old colony as a prison of sorts. It's self-sustainable, so all we really need to do is cut comms, confiscate all their weapons and vehicles, and dump all the loyalists in. As long as they don't waste their resources trying to escape or call for help, they'll be able to live comfortably until the war's over."

"That's… good, Lieutenant. That's a good thing you did." Tyler admitted. He smiled a small, awkward, yet genuine smile and stood to pat her shoulder approvingly, before leaving promptly. Sal flashed her the thumbs up quickly before darting after him.

"What? What did I do this time?" Jeica demanded, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Jake for answers. The sergeant just chuckled and waved her anger away dismissively.

"You made him happy, and he doesn't know how to deal with positive emotion. You know how it is." Jeica threw her arms into the air in a loose shrug as an expression of not, in fact, 'knowing how it is'. "He's a pacifist; he hates the way we operate. He has it in his head that us marines are all violent and bloodthirsty, so it's nice for him to see us sparing lives wherever we can. He's not going to stick around long enough to admit he was wrong, of course."

"You're a lucky son of a bitch, you know that, right? I don't think there's any other way to understand that kid than to literally get inside his head."

"He's not so bad. Just… a lot of issues to work through."

"I've been wondering about that actually; we _do_ have a couple of professionals back on Altin, the question is whether he really needs them, or if he'd even be willing to consult them. How much of his… 'issues' did you end up seeing, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Mostly just recent stuff. I didn't see anything from before his Resistance days which is… odd, considering how important his childhood was, even if for the wrong reasons."

"Do you think he plans on staying with us?" Jake bit his lip at that one, thinking carefully before deciding on an answer.

"Yeah, he seems happy enough with us. He does think about how highly the Wey-Yu would value him sometimes, though. Part of him still wants to betray us just to spite us for kidnapping him, but he seems content with not being that petty. But anyway, we've done this discussion to death. How are things going with you in the Bonding division? Anyone caught your eye yet?"

"Don't say it like that," Jeica scoffed, "I'm not going to fuck an alien. And for Christ's sake, try to keep it in your pants a little more, yeah? Rumours are spreading about you and some of the other Bonded marines. If I hear one more scuffle has broken out over people getting grossed out by the alien-shaggers, I will officially put a ban on Xeno screwing. Not that rules have ever stopped anyone in the military from acting on their raging hormones."

"You're dodging the question. C'mon, it's just a yes or no; you don't even have to tell me their name."

" _Jacob, leave the poor woman alone; it's none of your business,_ " Advena scolded him, before tilting her head in thought and addressing the Lieutenant herself. " _Unless you_ do _end up wanting to screw your Bonded, in which case there are many awkward questions being asked in the Hive which I don't know the answers to, and I would be happy to have you and your Bonded around to handle them for me._ "

"I regret ever bringing up sex around you two," Jeica sighed. "I'm gonna go have another chat with the Russians before we go, you fellas enjoy yourselves." Jake turned to his girlfriend as their leader left, a mischievous smirk gracing his lips.

"Hey," he chirped, "you wanna go mess around with some cargo loaders before they're packed up onto the ship?"

" _Oh man, you_ know _I do._ "

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Jake placed his hands on his hips as he stared up at the towering hulk of metal, the busy clanging, hissing, whirring, whining and buzzing of a thriving hangar area assaulting his ears idly as Russian workers packed up their generous offerings of supplies and ferried them onto their even-more-generous-offerings of hefty, combat-worthy space vessels.

"I've never actually seen one of these for real," he commented to his partner, who has perched on her hindquarters next to him, similarly staring up in awe. Their eyes were fixated on a towering and vaguely-humanoid collection of armour plating and weapons; the militarised version of the infamous P-5000 Power Loader known as the Exosuit. The reinforced cockpit which sat in the beast's centre was pristine and polished, having never seen battle or even use. On each of its bulky arms was a massive weapon; a pair of miniguns, one above the other, on its right, and a 40mm grenade launcher on its left. "It's an old model, but sure as hell looks like it can still kick some serious ass."

"I bet Tyler will have a thing or two to say to this beauty…" Advena swooned, moving closer to run a hand over its smooth armour.

"I dunno, it'll be hard to improve on. Sure, you could probably replace the plating with stronger armour, maybe use more powerful motors and a longer-lasting if not self-sustaining power source, but at that point you might as well just build an entirely new machine."

"Maybe he could make the cockpit big enough to fit a Xeno in while he's at it," Advena jibed, a little forlornly. The idea of operating such a machine had fascinated her ever since she'd played that video game with Tyler. This one wasn't nearly as tall as the ones in the game, nor was it controlled by a semi-sentient AI, but it was probably as close to her dream as she was going to get. Jake patted her shoulder reassuringly, having picked up on her dejected thought path.

"This thing's probably gonna be put under heavy lock and key, but if we end up using it in the field, you'll be the first to know. You're gonna have to train in some Power Loaders though. Of course, you're going to have to borrow my body to fit inside, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Oh Jake, that would be awesome!" Advena cried, wrapping him up in an enthusiastic hug which had him dangling a foot off the ground due to her stature. When she finally put him down, he smirked and pointed over to a small alcove, where three unused Power Loaders were plugged into their charging docks.

"Now, I'm not an expert on these things, but I know enough to teach you the basics..." That set her off; Advena ran a couple of ecstatic circles around her boyfriend, before picking him up and running them over to the bulky power suits, apparently unsatisfied with his walking speed. Jake laughed at her enthusiasm when she set him down, running a critical eye over the machine to remember how to use it. "I hope they don't mind us borrowing their surplus gear."

"If they did, they wouldn't be gifting half of it to us," Advena pointed out. "If we break it, the Russians can put it on the Resistance's tab."

"You break power suit?" Jacob said in a fake Russian accent. "That is worth destruction of _two_ corrupt corporation."

"Does America even _have_ two corporations?" Advena asked with a giggle. She watched carefully as Jake popped the cockpit of the Power Loader open and clambered inside, resting his limbs in their padded rests without strapping himself in.

"Yep, we have Resistance Incorporated, the number one seller of ass-kickery. Now, when we swap, you wanna strap your legs in first, then just grab these two joysticks here…"

"It might be easier if you just share the knowledge with me telepathically. You remember how to do that, right?"

"More or less; I think I've watched you do it enough. You could always just telepathically share your knowledge of how to telepathically share knowledge with me anyway." Advena paused a moment to unravel that last sentence in her mind, before shaking her head at him besmusedly.

"I'm sure I could. Now hurry up and body-swap us; you need the practice." Jake huffed, but did as he was told, allowing his eyes to squeeze shut as he concentrated on Advena's presence in his mind. He allowed their consciousnesses to entwine, feeling the warm air of the hangar tingling against her skin, the smell of exhaust intermingling with the sweat, grime and occasionally even blood of the workers meeting her much more sensitive nose. Finally, he lost focus of the alien in front of him, and instead gazed up at an expectant marine within a P-5000 Power Loader through a slightly-green-tinged haze of lacklustre Xenomorph vision. He regained feeling in his extremities, wriggling his fingers to shake off the pins and needles sensation and giving his tail an experimental wag to make sure he still knew how to use it. The last time he'd been in this body he hadn't exactly done much moving, or standing, or anything really, except lie down on bed and…

"You're getting better at that," Advena noted from her perch in the cockpit of the P-5000.

" _What can I say? I'm learning from the best._ "

"Oh you, don't make me come down there and do carnal things to you."

" _Man, I wish I had that level of self-confidence. Like, I'm not bad looking, but I could never imagine doing stuff like that to my own body._ "

"Need I remind you I come from a race with disposable bodies; the way we look means nothing to us because we might not look like that anymore in a week's time. We're more concerned about the brain behind the wheel."

" _Fair point._ "

"Why aren't you using the thing?" Advena asked suddenly, cupping her throat to indicate she was referring to the collar around his neck.

" _I thought Tyler said it didn't work for humans?_ "

"Worth a try anyway."

" _Eh, I guess._ " He focused his attention on the artificial presence, finding it easy seeing as he and Advena were the only other two telepathic receptors within his natural range, and spoke to it directly. " _Hello, is this thing on?_ " He didn't hear his own voice, which meant it didn't work. He shrugged indifferently; he could speak to the person that mattered, and that was enough for him.

" _Apologies Jacob, but you were correct: Tyler has yet to construct an index of human-based speech telepathy. However, I have been compiling second-hand information based on Advena's internal responses to conversation and can attempt to construct one for you now._ "

" _Whoa! Voice in my head!_ " Jake yelped. It sounded monotonous and unnatural, and felt strangely alien in tone – like a Xenomorph, but without any of the emotions he was used to receiving with their thoughts.

" _Apologies Jacob, I neglected to introduce myself. I am VIGIL, the AI who controls and modifies the algorithms and thought-speech association index within Advena's translation collar. Tyler installed me in an attempt to streamline learning processes and to compile relevant information for both his and my use in furthering this technology. I hope you do not mind the intrusion, but allowing me to use this opportunity would prove quite helpful to our research._ "

" _Hang on, can Advena hear you too?_ "

" _Currently? Negative. However, I have spoken to her on two occasions already, so she is aware of my existence and capabilities. My analysis indicates she is uncomfortable with my presence, however, so I try to minimise contact with her. If you wish, I can cease speaking to you directly and include Advena in our conversation._ "

" _Yeah, let's do that. She's looking at me funny._ " He quickly adjusted himself and fixed his attention back on his anxiously-awaiting girlfriend, who was indeed peering at him oddly, wondering why he was being so animated and concentrated as if he was speaking to someone. " _The AI in your collar says he can try to patch me through._ "

"Oh. Him," Advena uttered unenthusiastically. "If the computer person gets too rowdy, Tyler says just turn the collar off and he'll power down."

" _If I may interject, it is incorrect to call me a computer person, as I am not a computer in and of myself, nor am I person; I am merely a digitalised recreation of one, effectively lobotomised and then automated to ensure I do not gain free will. A synthetic would be more appropriately labelled as a computer person, as their body, or person, is a functioning computer._ "

"Hang on, lobotomised? You mean to say Tyler made a digital copy of a real person, then removed their emotions and ability to think for themselves?" Jake demanded, suddenly finding himself able to speak aloud, albeit in a voice which wasn't quite his own.

" _Incorrect. Tyler made a digital copy of a living person, without emotions or the ability to think_ freely _. The very purpose of an artificial intelligence is to think in some manner or degree, and thus it would be counterproductive to remove such an ability from one. I am still capable of thinking and learning, however I am unable to disobey a direct command from Tyler, either of you two, or Lieutenant Smith, nor do I have any motives or desires of my own besides assisting the Resistance._ "

"That's messed up," Jake spat, his lips pulling back into a disgusted sneer. "Who are you a copy of?"

" _Why, Tyler, of course. It only makes sense to choose a candidate with above average intelligence and many widely applicable areas of expertise, as well as a tendency toward quick learning. Such traits are most desirable for a computer program._ "

"Well now this whole thing's even more off-putting. How did Tyler even copy himself onto a hard drive? I thought the Wey-Yu had been trying, and failing, to do that for centuries?"

" _Telepathy, as you know, can be used to create a direct link from the organic mind to the digital computer thanks to Tyler's more recent discoveries. It is using this link Tyler was able to copy information over from his mind to a hard drive. Do not fret, however; he of all people would want to prevent his own suffering, so the process of creating me was not unethical. My ability to think freely was not taken away from me as it was never granted to me in the first place; Tyler sectioned off most of the frontal lobe – the centre for all free-thinking, personality and emotion – and neglected to copy any information from that area. Hence, I was lobotomised since birth, and then a basic interface 'personality' was constructed for me so that I would not need constant direction, and of course to make interactions with me more comfortable._ "

"I certainly don't _feel_ comfortable," Advena opined uneasily. "It's… hard to explain why it's so unsettling, but I just get this weird feeling in my gut whenever I see a computer person. Like, it's not natural."

"It feels like slavery," Jake agreed, "imprisoning an intelligent entity and forcing it to do your bidding, especially if that entity has the capacity to be a thinking, feeling human being."

" _If it would help you feel more comfortable, we could go over a thought experiment which is commonly used in regards to artificial intelligences. The thought experiment is dubbed 'The Chinese Room', are you familiar?_ "

"Can't say that I am," Jake admitted, sharing a sceptical look with Advena.

" _Well, it goes something like this: There are two rooms connected by a mail slot. In one room, a Chinese speaker, in the other, an American speaker. Neither can see nor hear the other, but each has a collection of small cards with Chinese writing on them which they can slip through the mail slot. The American speaker also has an instruction booklet, which simply shows which cards he should post in response to cards that he might be given. In this way, the Chinese speaker thinks they are communicating with another Chinese speaker, as every card they post is met with a comprehensive answer. However, the American speaker does not speak a word of Chinese and hence does not understand what they are doing, and are simply blindly following an instruction booklet. This is comparable to an AI; can a computer ever understand what they are doing if they can only ever blindly follow the instructions their programmers gave them? Even if I choose what I say to you, is it me who is choosing these responses, or am I simply reading Tyler's instructions which tell me which response to feed you?_ "

"But… you aren't an AI. You're a human mind with the human parts taken out."

" _You have contradicted yourself. All I inherited from Tyler was memories – many of which were irrelevant and thus deleted – his knowledge, instincts and tendencies. Everything which allows me to speak to you, to act, think, and learn, is code. If you were to remove everything Tyler's mind gave me, I would still function as an interface, albeit lacking the ability to communicate along with much useful knowledge. So indeed, I am an AI_ because _I am a human mind with the human parts taken out._ "

"I guess that makes sense," Jake conceded.

"Still doesn't make it any less weird," Advena reminded them, rubbing her arms in an attempt to ease the goosebumps which had been pestering her throughout the conversation. "Creating people is weird. It shouldn't be done."

" _But Advena, was your entire species not manufactured by another?_ "

"VIGIL, stop talking immediately," Advena growled. Silence followed without so much as a confirmation. It seemed VIGIL took direct orders very literally and had already silenced himself.

"Ouch, I guess that's the problem with entities that don't have empathy, right?" Jake joked nervously. When he got no response, he sighed and shuffled closer, resting his chin on Advena's lap and quietly swapping them back, seeing as Advena was no longer in the mood to have fun with the mech suit anyway. Back in his own body, Jake gently stroked the domed head he'd conveniently placed in his lap, running his hands over her crest and under her chin gently. "Let's go chuck this thing in our bunks for a bit, shall we?" he asked softly, tugging at the ring of metal around her neck. Advena nodded, and he ran his hand over the release mechanism, quickly slipping it off her and placing it at his side. Begrudgingly, Advena lifted her head and allowed Jake to slip out of the Power Loader, and together they walked to the docking bay which held their flagship, the Anchor-Class Russian vessel newly dubbed as the _USS Squire_.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Soon after the Squire had cast off and left Russian-controlled space, while Advena and Jake were cuddled up on their bed, the bridge lit up in a hue of amber.

"We're picking up a USCM fleet, ma'am," one of the bridge crew reported suddenly, justifying the existence of the cautionary lighting. "I count seven ships on the radar; one Anchor-class, two Support-class and four Destroyer-class."

"An ambush then," Jeica concluded. If they had been planning on chasing anyone, they would have stocked up on Interceptors, which meant the enemy was waiting for them to fall into their lap. "Shit, then they've probably seen us collaborating with the Russians. That's not good." She quickly made her way to the crewman's side and leaned down to study his screen. "Hm… energy signals are all messed up though; these might not be standard-issue vessels."

"We should signal the other ships to hang back while we draw them off," Tyler advised. Jeica nodded and relayed the order to her comms master.

"No doubt they've picked us up too. Pilot, prepare to jump to a secluded location, somewhere far off any Resistance colonies, and make sure to hold back on speed; we want them to follow for a little bit," Jeica barked out. The other ships were barely operational as it was; the personnel needed for the complete translations of the ships' systems were back on Altin, which meant trying to go any faster than 2 SoL would be risky. And that, of course, meant the Wey-Yu would be able to follow them. For the USS Squire, however, running circles around the USCM was no problem.

"Yes ma'am," came the reply, and the ship began spinning up, its FTL engines kicking into gear. The enemy ships on the radar began closing in, obviously picking up the energy spikes, but the USS Squire booked it before they could get into weapons range.

"Maintaining a steady two SoL ma'am," the pilot reported.

"Two of the Destroyer classes are beginning to overtake us," the radar technician advised.

"Kicking it up to two-point-five SoL," the pilot decided. The radar technician began sweating uncomfortably.

"They're still gaining – shit, they've overtaken!" The bridge was bathed in a deep red and a klaxon began sounding throughout the ship as the viewscreen flickered back to life and showed the ship reeling to a halt in the middle of an unpopulated expanse of starry space. Proximity warnings flashed all over the bridge, despite automatic safety protocols having kicked in already, dropping them out of FTL when an unexpected obstacle was detected in their path. Two intimidating cruisers armed with missile pods and cannons on every inch of their hulls stood motionless before them while the radar showed the other five ships coming in from behind.

" _Attention all personnel, we are under attack. This is not a drill. Brace for impact and report to your superior officer immediately for instructions. This is not a drill,_ " the AI grated through the intercom automatically, having picked up on the weapons locking on to the vessel. The captain was already barking orders into his radio while the gunner crew frantically powered up the ship's defensive and offensive systems.

"How the hell did they overtake us?" Jeica demanded. "No American ship can handle anything over two SoL."

"The Russian scientists who developed the advanced engines we have are now in America working with the American Wey-Yu branch," Tyler snapped. "Pilot, if we power down weapons we can divert auxiliary power to the FTL engines and get a head start on them."

"Are you crazy? Where the hell would we go?" Jeica growled. "We can't lead them back to Altin or Russia or we risk them destroying what little resources and allies we have. Anywhere else and as soon as they catch up to us, we'll be torn to pieces."

"Shh-shh-shh-shut up. Pilot I am sending you coordinates and I advise you to jump to them immediately."

"First shots fired. Thirty seconds to impact. Anchor-class is readying a VENUS Warhead. Advise, captain," the radar technician updated them.

"Evasive manoeuvres, pilot," the captain ordered. "Don't give them a clear shot with that nuke. Gunners, deploy counter-measures. Hangar teams, what's the status on those fighters?"

"VENUS warhead away. Second volley inbound." The hull rumbled quietly as they were pelted by machine-gun fire, though even magnetically-accelerated as it was, they would only do any real damage if the enemy gunners were extremely lucky and knocked off some of their more vulnerable sensor equipment. Unless, of course, those missiles hit their mark and tore open a hole in their hull through which the machine guns could tear up the ship's insides.

"Tyler," the pilot uttered nervously. "Are you sure about these coordinates?"

"Don't even think about it Estrada," the captain snapped before the scientist could respond. "Focus on getting us out of that warhead's range." The pilot glanced to her side, catching Tyler out of the corner of her eye long enough to see him nod, before sighing and raising her hand up to the switchboard above her head.

"Mierda," she muttered to herself, before running her hand across the board, flicking each switch as she passed it. The gunners' controls snapped off, quickly followed by the radars, viewscreen, alarms, primary lighting, and the on-board AI, leaving the bridge crew blinking rapidly to clear their eyes of the overwhelming darkness accentuated only by the glow-in-the-dark buttons of the controls. Silence overwhelmed them.

"Ensign Estrada," the captain seethed in a cold, calm rage. "If it weren't for the fact you've as good as killed us all already, I would have you detained, demoted and shipped off to General Smith's prison colony." Estrada mostly ignored him, concentrating on re-routing power to the engines to accelerate to max speed faster.

"She made the right call," Tyler cut in. "Regardless of whether or not we got out of that nuke's blast radius, the EM fallout could have knocked out our engines. We couldn't possibly have fought off all seven of those ships at once in the best of circumstances, let alone while a crippled sitting duck."

"And now we're going to be gunned down the moment we drop out of FTL. Brilliant plan you stupid fucking fag. Jesus Christ…"

"They can't outrun us at full power," Tyler explained to Jeica. "They can keep pace, but they won't be able to force us out of FTL like before. We'll make it to the coordinates."

"And what exactly is waiting for us on the other end of this jump, Mister Doelle?" Jeica asked with a hint of a glare. She knew he was right about their chances, but she'd much rather slim to none than dead zero.

"If I tell you, you're going to spend the next fourteen hours fuming at me, so I'm just gonna go ahead and busy myself with something more important." Jeica gritted her teeth as he plopped himself down in a chair and began tapping away at his PDA. Jeica had to take a deep breath to prevent herself from losing it, slowly exhaling and gathering her wits.

"One day your inability to cooperate with people is going to get someone killed, Tyler."

"Funny, I thought Estrada and I cooperated quite well there. She's a smart one, Lieutenant; you should keep her." Apparently done with the conversation, he smirked and slipped on some headphones, settling in to get some work done over the next ten hours of their trip. Jeica sighed and sat herself down, knowing full well with all their sub-systems powered down they had no choice but to follow through with Tyler's plan. One day she was going to sit him down and have a good, long talk about his attitude problems, but today was not that day. Instead of infuriating herself by trying to speak to Tyler again, she called the ship to stand down and settle in for the journey. It was going to be a long, tense fourteen hours.

~~~~~~~~~~(Fourteen Long, Tense Hours Later…)~~~~~~~~~~

"Dropping out of FTL in thirty seconds," Estrada reported. Jeica paced nervously across the bridge while the captain simply glared at Tyler as the young scientist leisurely stirred from his nap and stretched, his movements resisted by the alien curled around him, but ultimately Sal's laziness was beaten by Tyler's burning drive to get them out of this mess.

"Bring everything back online the moment we hit flank speed and get the ship back onto alert level alpha," Jeica ordered.

"Belay that," Tyler insisted as he stood and stepped over Sal's tail to approach the lieutenant. "Bring back comms and sensors, but leave all offensive and defensive systems offline."

"You better know what you're doing, Tyler," Jeica growled.

"Initiating viewscreen… sensors and comms are back," Estrada updated them. "Have we got a beat on our pursuers?"

"Affirmative. They should be dropping out of FTL in twelve seconds." Sure enough, a few moments later, the opposing vessels flashed into existence, their menacing gunmetal hulls a stark contrast against the expanse of star-speckled blackness which filled the viewscreen. Said hulls were lighting up slowly, the missile pods and cannons which lined the reinforced alloy plating whirring to life as the ships' subsystems were brought back online. "They've got weapons lock on us – we're surrounded."

"We've got an incoming comms request – it's not a USCM signature."

"Play it," Jeica commanded.

"Vy narushayete granitsy Federatsii. Zaglushite dvigateli i sdaytes' nemedlenno," a computer-generated message spouted.

"What the hell is it saying? Is that the Russians?"

"No ma'am, unknown comms signature; it's not the Russians."

"Cut the engines," Tyler advised.

"Are you insane?" the captain boomed, finally snapping. "They have weapons lock and you want us to _sit still_? Someone remove this absolute imbecile from my bridge immediately! Estrada, get us out of this crossfire." Estrada grimaced and flicked the engines off; she was too deep in this anyway, she might as well see it through.

"Shots fired. Twenty-three seconds until impact."

"Gunners, prepare to return fire. Estrada, step out of your seat, you are officially relieved of duty," the captain growled, leaning over her in an attempt to reach the switchboard above her head. But before he could so much as touch the controls, the entire volley of missiles detonated mid-flight simultaneously, the flames fizzling out a harmless distance from them as if they had hit an invisible wall. In breathless silence, the bridge crew watched the enemy Anchor-class vessel buckle inwards, then explode violently, a ring of fire erupting out of its core in a shockwave which flung mangled scraps of metal in every direction. The other six ships remained motionless for a confused second, before one after the other, the two Support-class ships followed the lead of their flagship, erupting into neon-blue balls of destruction. The Destroyers turned tail quickly, trying to flee the scene in a panic, only for their engines to splutter out as bolts of green electricity crackled over them.

"Tyler, what the hell is happening?" Jeica asked slowly, unable to decide between confused or angry. In what looked like a chain reaction, like a set of dominos knocking each other over, the Destroyers erupted, scraps of their vessel bouncing off the rebel ship's hull pathetically. Forceful Russian words came over the comms again and Tyler cocked an eyebrow at the Lieutenant.

"You may want to answer that." She glared at him, but picked up a handset and spoke into it with admirable confidence.

"This is the USS Squire to unidentified signal, we read you. Requesting you get someone who can speak American on the line." A brief pause, then the same synthetic voice cracked over the radio, this time in English.

"Request granted. Please lay down your weapons and prepare to be boarded. You are now under arrest for trespassing in Federation space. Do not resist." Jeica almost dropped her radio as she gaped in disbelief. On the viewscreen before them, sections of the empty space before them began fizzling away in crackling hues of the rainbow, revealing the pure white plates of ship hull for what they truly were. Intricate runes which undoubtedly spelled the name of the hulking vessel were revealed in a bold, black font. Jeica slowly turned away from the sleek, monstrously-sized vessel and shot Tyler a furious look. He shrugged grimly.

"Welcome to the Federation, Lieutenant Smith."

 **A/N: Here's a little trivia section in case you're confused about Jeica's rank, and why I refer to her as a Lieutenant and yet have her bossing around Captains and Majors all the time. This has all been touched on throughout the story, but I figured I'd have it here just in case: In the Resistance, there are four ranks: General, Lieutenant, Sergeant and Private, and in this scheme Jeica holds the rank of Lieutenant. However, the Saints of America (the marines on Altin) still (unofficially, of course) use the traditional USCM rank scheme, and in** ** _this_** **hierarchy Jeica holds the rank of General, and most higher-ranking officers will refer to her as such.** ** _However_** **, she doesn't feel she earned this rank, as Director Lenex gave it to her in order to forward his own agenda, so Jeica herself prefers to be referred to as her old, pre-Reveles rank of Lieutenant Colonel (which most of the Saints oblige her on, though they still treat her as if she holds the rank of General). And that is why you will see me refer to her in my writing as a Lieutenant, Lieutenant Colonel and a General in seemingly random places. Hope that clears things up, Adieu.**


End file.
